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THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF 

NORTH  CAROLINA 

AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


THE  COLLECTION  OF 
NORTH  CAROLINIANA 

PRESENTED  BY 

Morth  Carolina  OuUfeGUoa 
Gift  Fund 


C971.80 
R93.1 

C.4 


UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 

00025332952 


This  book  may  be  kept  out  one  month  unless  a  recall 
notice  is  sent  to  you.  It  must  be  brought  to  the  North 
Carolina  Collection  (in  Wilson  Library)  for  renewal. 


A  HISTORY  OF 

ROWAN  COUNTY 

NORTH  CAROLINA 
CONTAINING  SKETCHES  OF 

PROMINENT   FAMILIES 

AND 

DISTINGUISHED  MEN 

WITH  AN 

APPENDIX 
BY  REV.  JETHRO  RUMPLE 


PUBLISHED  BY  J.  J.  BRUNER 

SAUSBURY.  N.  C. 

1681 


REPUBUSHED  BY  THE 

EUZABETH  MAXWELL  STEELE  CHAPTER 

DAUGHTERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

SALISBURY,  N.  C. 


ENTERED  ACCORDING  TO  ACT  OF  CONGRESS 
IN  THE  YEAR   1916 

IN  THE  OFFICE  OF  THE  LIBRARIAN  OF  CONGRESS 
AT  WASHINGTON.  D.  C. 

BY 

ELIZABETH   MAXWELLE  STEELE  CHAPTER 
DAUGHTERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN   REVOLUTION 


CHARLOTTE.  N.   C. 

OBSERVER  PRINTING  HOUSE 

1916 


CM- 


ELIZABETH  MAXWELL  STEELE  CHAPTER 

DAUGHTERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN 

REVOLUTION 


OFFICERS 

Mrs.   Edwin    C.    Gregory Regent 

Mrs.    D.    F.    Cannox Vice-Regent 

Mrs.  Geo.  A.  Fisher Recording  Secretary 

Urs.   John    McCanless Corresponding   Secretary 

Mrs.  Wm.  S.  Nicolson Treasurer 

Mrs.  R.  L.   Mauney Registrar 

Mrs.  W.   S.   BlackmER Historian 

Mrs.    N.    p.    Murphy Chaplain 


MEMBERS 

Mrs. 

R.  M.  Armstrong 

Mrs. 

J.  P.  Moore 

Miss 

Fannie.  V.  Andrews 

Mrs. 

G.  W.  MontcastlE 

Miss 

Rosalie   Bernhardt 

Mrs. 

J.  W.  Neave 

Mrs. 

Lyman   A.   Gotten 

Miss 

Elizabeth    Nicolson 

Mrs. 

J.  R.   Deas 

Mrs. 

E.  R.  Overman 

Mrs. 

J.  P.  Grimes 

Mrs. 

M.     C.     QUINN 

Mrs. 

A.  H.   Gray 

Mrs. 

J.  F.   Preston 

Mrs. 

J.  H.  Gorman 

Mrs. 

John  Stewart 

Mrs. 

Thos.  Hines 

Mrs. 

R.    P.  TOLMAN 

Mrs. 

J.   H.   Hurley 

Miss 

Mary   L.    Smith 

^% 

Miss 

CamillE   Hunt 

Mrs. 

W.  H.  Woodson 

1 

I 

A  NEW  PREFACE 

In  republishing  the  Rumple  History  of  Rowan 
County,  the  Elizabeth  Maxwell  Steele  Chapter, 
National  Society  of  the  Daughters  of  the  American 
Revolution,  has  accomplished  a  twofold  purpose, 
namely:  ''the  encouragement  of  historical  research, 
and  the  publication  of  its  results."  In  fulfilling  these 
primary  objects  of  the  Society,  it  has  also  furthered 
the  ulterior  aim  of  both  editor  and  author,  whose 
advocacy  of  these  same  objects — ten  years  prior  to  the 
organization  of  the  National  Society — made  this  little 
book  possible. 

By  these  recorded  ''facts  of  history,  biography,  and 
achievement,"  supplemented  by  priceless  data  gleaned 
from  old  documents,  manuscripts,  local  tradition,  and 
the  personal  recollections  of  many  who  have  since  been 
gathered  to  their  fathers,  the  author  has  rendered  an 
inestimable  service — not  only  to  the  Rowan  County  of 
today,  but  the  territory  occupied  by  forty-five  counties 
formed  from  this  venerable  mother,  which  when 
erected  comprehended  most  of  the  western  part  of  the 
State,  and  Tennessee. 

Printed  weekly  from  the  galley  proofs  of  the  cur- 
rent newspaper  article,  on  common  material,  and  filed 
away  to  be  later  bound  into  book  form,  the  first  edi- 
tion was  of  necessity  limited,  and  was  exhausted  years 


b  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN    COUNTY 

ago.  In  presenting  the  second  edition,  the  publishers 
hope  to  supply  a  long-felt  want.  The  contents  have 
not  been  built  anew ;  in  a  few  instances  only,  supple- 
mental facts  have  been  incorporated,  and  the  past 
linked  with  the  present  through  the  medium  of  a 
limited  number  of  photographs.  In  consideration  of 
the  ample  domain  formerly  covered  by  Rowan  County, 
its  history  is  the  common  heritage  of  the  people  of 
Western  North  Carolina  and  a  vast  number  of  her 
sons  and  daughters  who  have  made  homes  in  other 
States — particularly  those  of  the  ^Middle  West. 

A  copy  of  this  little  volume  owned  by  the  writer  is 
thus  autographed  by  its  late  beloved  author :  "  'History 
is  Philosophy  teaching  by  example.'  So  said  one  who 
deeply  pondered  the  import  of  his  words.  If  we  would 
be  wise  and  good,  we  should  learn  the  best  methods 
from  the  example  of  those  who  have  gone  before  us." 
Primarily,  the  mission  of  this  work  was  to  rescue  from 
oblivion  the  history  of  Rowan,  and  to  preserve  and 
perpetuate  the  honorable  records  of  her  citizens ;  and 
incidentally  promote  an  intelligent  interest  in  the  early 
development  of  the  County,  and  a  more  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  first  settlers — peaceable,  industrious, 
and  law-abiding  men — "composed  of  almost  all  the 
nations  of  Europe,"  who  came  to  make  homes  for 
themselves  and  children ;  "men  and  women  who  had 
suffered  for  conscience'  sake,  or  fled  from  despotism 
to  seek  liberty  and  happiness  unrestrained  by  the 
shackles  of  a  wornout  civilization."  Intolerant  of 
tyranny,  yet  characteristically  conservative  —  when 
constrained  to  act,  they  were  invincible !     Xo  people 


A    NEW    PREFACE  7 

has  a  fairer  and  broader  historic  background,  as  yet 
almost  unexplored.  "Ill  fares  it  with  a  State  whose 
history  is  written  by  others  than  her  own  sons !" 

Is  it  vain  to  hope  that  some  one,  among  "the  lineal 
descendants  and  present-day  representatives  of  an 
illustrious  dead" — kindled  afresh  by  the  holy  fires  of 
patriotism  and  pride  of  race — will  arise  phoenix-like 
from  the  ashes  of  our  indifference,  and  write  the  noble 
annals  of  our  State?  "Earlier  colonized  in  point  of 
history,  full  of  glorious  examples  of  patriotism  and 
chivalric  daring,  North  Carolina  has  been  neglected 
by  her  own  sons  and  others."  Too  long  have  we  felt 
the  opprobrium  of  this  neglect. 

To  those  who  have  countenanced  this  effort,  and  to 
the  friends  who  have  rendered  valuable  assistance  both 
by  suggestion  and  contribution,  many  thanks  are  due. 
Should  but  one  reader  cease  to  be  a  "mute  inglorious 
Milton,"  and  sing  inspiredly  of  the  valor  and  glory 
of  our  forebears,  then  your  support  and  this  little 
book  shall  not  have  been  in  vain. 

— Beulah  Stewart  Moore 


PREFACE 

This  little  book  is  an  accident.  While  engaged  in 
collecting  material  for  another  purpose,  the  writer 
was  led  to  examine  the  early  records  preserved  in  the 
Courthouse  in  Salisbury,  and  in  the  course  of  his  in- 
vestigation happened  upon  a  number  of  things  that 
appeared  to  be  of  general  interest.  Mentioning  this 
fact  casually  to  the  editor  of  the  Carolina  Watchman, 
the  writer  was  asked  to  embody  these  items  of  interest 
in  a  few  articles  for  that  newspaper.  This  led  to  ad- 
ditional research,  and  to  the  accumulation  of  a  pile  of 
notes  and  references  that  gave  promise  of  a  dozen  or 
more  articles.  These  the  editor  thought  should  be 
printed  in  a  pamphlet  of  fifty  or  a  hundred  small  pages 
for  preservation,  and  he  began  at  once  to  print  off  a 
few  hundred  copies  from  the  type  used  in  the  news- 
paper. As  the  work  went  on,  other  facts  were  gathered 
— from  traditions,  from  family  records,  and  from  the 
pages  of  books  written  about  Xorth  Carolina,  such  as 
the  Histories  and  Sketches  of  Hawks,  Caruthers, 
Foote,  Bancroft,  Wheeler,  Lawson,  Byrd,  Jones, 
Wiley,  Moore,  Hunter,  Bernheim,  Gillett,  and  from 
miscellaneous  diaries,  periodicals,  and  manuscripts. 
These  were  intended  to  furnish  a  frame  for  the  picture 
of  Old  Rowan,  and  sidelights  that  it  might  be  seen  to 
advantage.  And  thus  the  little  pamphlet  has  swollen  to 


10  HISTORY   OF  ROWAN   COUNTY 

its  present  proportions.  It  was  written  in  installments 
from  week  to  week,  amid  the  incessant  demands  of 
regular  professional  duty,  and  without  that  care  and 
revision  that  might  have  saved  it  from  some  infelicities 
of  style  or  obscurities  of  expression.  Both  the  writer 
and  the  publisher  would  have  been  glad  to  have  ex- 
pended more  time  and  care  upon  the  work,  so  as  to 
render  it  more  worthy  of  the  noble  County  whose  an- 
nals it  is  intended  to  recover  and  perpetuate.  Still  it 
is  believed  that  very  few  serious  errors  have  been 
made.  Local  traditions  have  been  compared  with  gen- 
eral history,  and  have  been  found  to  coincide  wherever 
they  came  in  contact. 

The  writer  has  been  indebted  to  a  number  of  per- 
sons for  the  facts  which  he  has  recorded.  Miss  Chris- 
tine Beard,  a  granddaughter  of  John  Lewis  Beard, 
and  of  John  Dunn,  Esq. — now  eighty  years  of  age, 
with  a  remarkably  retentive  memory — has  furnished 
personal  recollections  of  the  Town  of  SaHsbur}^,  cover- 
ing seventy  years.  She  has  also  treasured  up  the 
stories  heard  in  her  youth  from  the  lips  of  her  ances- 
tors, running  back  to  the  first  settlement  of  the  County. 
Messrs.  J.  ]\I.  Horah  and  H.  N.  Woodson,  the  Clerk 
and  the  Register,  kindly  gave  access  to  the  old  records 
in  the  Courthouse,  dating  back  to  1753.  John  S.  Hen- 
derson, Esq.,  Rev.  S.  Rothrock,  Rev.  H.  T.  Hudson, 
D.  D.,  Rev.  J.  J.  Renn,  Rev.  J.  B.  Boone,  Rev.  J.  Ingle, 
Rufus  Barringer,  Esq.,  Dr.  D.  B.  Wood,  M.  L.  Mc- 
Corkle,  Esq.,  Mrs.  X.  Boyden,  and  others,  have  either 


PREFACE  II 

prepared  papers  in  full,  or  furnished  documents  and 
manuscript  statements  that  have  been  of  special  serv- 
ice. Mrs.  P.  B.  Chambers  furnished  the  diary  of 
her  grandfather,  Waightstill  Avery,  Esq.  Col.  W.  L. 
Saunders,  Secretary  of  State,  and  Col.  J.  McLeod 
Turner,  Keeper  of  the  State  Capitol,  very  kindly 
furnished,  free  of  charge,  a  copy  of  the  Roll  of  Honor 
of  the  Rowan  County  soldiers  in  the  Confederate 
Army.  The  revision  and  completion  of  this  Roll  was 
superintended  by  Mr.  C.  R.  Barker,  who  bestowed 
great  care  and  much  time  upon  this  work.  Many 
thanks  are  due  to  all  these  persons.  In  fact,  it  has 
been  a  labor  of  love,  without  hope  of  pecuniary  re- 
ward, with  the  Author,  and  all  those  who  have  con- 
tributed to  this  performance.  With  these  state- 
ments, the  little  book  is  sent  forth,  with  the  hope  that 
it  will  be  of  some  service  to  the  citizens  of  North  Car- 
olina, and  especially  to  the  people  of  Rowan. 

No  attempt  is  made  to  point  out  typographical  er- 
rors. They  are  generally  of  such  nature  as  to  be 
readily  corrected  by  the  intelligent  reader.  The  follow- 
ing errors  may  be  noted:  On  page  171,  it  is  stated 
that  no  man  knows  where  the  grave  of  John  Dunn, 
Esq.,  is.  Further  inquiry,  however,  revealed  the  fact 
that  the  spot  is  still  known.  The  correction  is  given 
on  page  228. 

On  page  285,  Matthew  Brandon  is  represented  as 
having  had  two  daughters.  A  fuller  account  reveals 
the  fact  that  he  had  three  other  daughters— one  who 


12  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN   COUNTY 

married  a  Mr.  ]\IcCombs,  of  Charlotte ;  another  who 
married  Wm.  Smith,  of  Charlotte ;  and  still  another 
who  married  George  Miller,  of  Salisbury.  A  daughter 
of  the  last-named  couple  married  Lemuel  Bingham, 
Associate  Editor  of  the  Western  Carolinian,  in  1820- 
23.  These  were  the  parents  of  the  Binghams  now  of 
Salisbury. 

On  page  288,  John  Phifer  is  represented  as  setting 
in  Rowan,  near  China  Grove.  Further  inquiry  seems 
to  show  that  John  Phifer  never  lived  in  Rowan,  but 
that  his  widow  moved  to  that  place  after  her  marriage 
with  George  Savitz. 

On  page  394,  it  is  stated  that  the  Rev.  W.  D.  Stro- 
bel  and  Rev.  D.  I.  Dreher  were  ministers  to  the  Salis- 
bury Lutheran  Church.  This  statement  does  not  ap- 
pear to  be  correct.  It  further  appears  that  the  Rev. 
S.  Rothrock's  first  term  of  service  in  Salisbury  was  in 
1833,  and  his  second  in  1836;  and  that  the  Rev.  ]\Ir. 
Rosenmuller  came  between  ^Ir.  Reck  and  Mr.  Tabler. 

The  reader  will  observe  in  these  sketches  occasional 
reference  to  the  Mecklenburg  Declaration  of  May  20, 
1775,  and  to  its  signers,  with  no  expression  of  doubt 
as  to  its  authenticity.  This  course  has  been  pursued 
because  the  writer  did  not  feel  called  upon  to  settle,  or 
even  discuss,  that  vexed  question,  and  he  did  not  feel 
authorized  to  set  at  defiance  the  conclusions  that  seem 
to  be  sustained  by  the  bulk  of  the  testimony,  and  to 
adopt  instead  the  deductions  of  critics  derived  from 
real  or  supposed  inconsistencies  and  contradictions  in 


PREFACE  13 

that  testimony.  With  an  array  of  documents  before 
him,  he  prefers  to  allow  Mecklenburg  to  settle  that 
question  for  herself,  while  at  the  same  time  he  is  per- 
fectly satisfied  that  the  Mecklenburg  patriots  of  1775, 
either  on  the  twentieth  or  thirty-first  of  May,  or  upon 
both  occasions,  acted  in  such  a  noble  manner  as  to 
surround  their  names  with  the  glory  of  patriotic  de- 
A'otion  and  heroic  courage. 


SKETCH  OF  AUTHOR 


REV.  JETHRO  RUMPLE,  D.  D. 

Nearly  a  century  ago,  in  an  unpretentious  farm- 
house in  Cabarrus  County,  N.  C,  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  Jethro  Rumple,  was  born.  Amid  these  humble 
surroundings,  the  life  of  the  boy  was  developed,  and 
so  the  first  work  of  his  hands  must  have  been  the 
homely  chores  of  the  farm,  and  the  first  regular  jour- 
neyings  of  his  boyish  feet  in  the  straight  line  of  the 
furrow,  as  he  followed  the  plough  in  the  cornfield. 

The  first  artificial  illumination  for  his  eyes  was  the 
light  of  the  candle  or  smoky  pineknot  on  the  hearth, 
flickering  on  the  leaves  of  the  old  "blue-backed  spel- 
ler," as  he  reclined  at  close  of  day  in  that  first  studious 
attitude  of  childhood,  for  the  little  Jethro  must  have 
been  born  with  the  love  of  books  in  his  heart.  He 
went  to  the  little  neighboring  school,  and  between  the 
jobs  of  the  farm  we  can  see  the  barefoot  boy  trudging 
the  long  way  to  the  rough  schoolhouse  from  which  the 
first  ambitions  of  his  life  must  have  come  to  him.  Be- 
yond the  horizon  of  the  wheatfield  he  early  found 
the  vision  of  better  and  higher  things,  viz. :  classical 
education,  and  a  place  among  the  scholars  of  the  land. 
Some  years  later,  with  this  end  in  view,  and  after 
many  struggles  to  raise  or  make  arrangements  for  the 


1 6  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

necessary  funds,  we  find  him  entering  Davidson 
College,  where  he  was  graduated  with  distinction  in 
1850. 

Teaching  school  and  studying  alternately,  again,  he 
spent  the  necessary  three  years  of  his  theological 
education  at  the  Seminary  in  Columbia,  S.  C. ;  and 
under  the  patronage  of  Concord  Presbytery,  of  which 
he  was  for  the  remainder  of  his  life  a  member,  he  was 
licensed  in  1856  to  preach  the  gospel.  A  Httle  later 
he  was  ordained  and  installed  as  the  pastor  of  Provi- 
dence and  Sharon  Churches,  in  Mecklenburg  County, 
N.  C.  After  holding  this  pastorate  for  four  years,  he 
was  called  to  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Salis- 
bury, N.  C,  and  was  installed  as  its  pastor,  November 
24,  i860.  There  he  found  his  life  work.  Taking  up 
the  burden  of  this  church  with  a  membership  of  ninety, 
he  continued  to  be  their  faithful  and  beloved  pastor 
for  the  remaining  years  of  his  life  on  earth,  and  forty- 
five  years  later  he  laid  it  down  with  a  living  member- 
ship of  four  hundred  thirty-four  souls,  a  glorious 
harvest  for  the  ]\Iaster.  Eight  young  men  have  en- 
tered the  Gospel  ministry,  and  two — Rev.  Dr.  John  W. 
Davis,  of  China,  and  Rev.  Robert  Coit,  of  Korea — 
the  foreign  missionary  field. 

Dr.  Rumple  developed,  early  in  his  work,  a  vigor 
and  breadth  of  mind  and  heart  that  was  felt  by  all 
denominations  in  his  town,  and  abroad  as  well.  Not 
content  with  working  in  his  home  field,  he  was  one  of 
the  pioneers  in  the  home  missionary  work  in  the 
mountains  of  North  Carolina,  giving  his  vacations 
often  to  that  work.     He  organized  the  Presbyterian 


SKETCH    OF    AUTHOR  1 7 

Church  at  Blowing  Rock,  N.  C,  and  was  largely  in- 
strumental in  raising  the  funds  for  the  first  building. 
The  second  structure,  a  picturesque  and  unicjue  gothic 
building  of  rough  mountain  stone,  stands  as  a  beautiful 
memorial  to  his  labors  and  life. 

In  the  department  of  literature,  Dr.  Rumple  also 
made  a  place,  for  in  addition  to  this  History  of  Rowan 
County,  first  published  in  1881,  he  wrote  and  published, 
in  the  pages  of  the  North  Carolina  Presbyterian  (the 
predecessor  of  the  Presbyterian  Standard),  a  History 
of  Presbyterianism  in  North  Carolina.  This  was  in- 
tended to  have  been  published  later  in  book  form,  but 
the  writer,  amid  the  increasing  duties  of  church  at 
home  and  abroad,  never  found  the  time  to  completely 
finish  and  arrange  it. 

As  a  public  speaker.  Dr.  Rumple  was  much  in  de- 
mand, and  in  1887  he  edited  the  "First  Semi-Centenary 
Celebration  of  Davidson  College,  containing  the  ad- 
dresses, historical  and  commemorative,  of  that 
occasion ;"  and  in  this  publication  he  is  the  author  of  an 
excellent  and  well-written  sketch  of  Davidson  College. 

While  not  professing  to  be  an  evangelist,  in  the 
present  accepted  meaning  of  that  term.  Dr.  Rumple 
was  often  called  to  preach  away  from  his  home  church, 
conducting  the  meetings  of  quarterly  communion  in 
the  different  churches ;  and  he  was  quite  sucessful  in 
his  work,  the  Spirit  of  God  being  manifest  in  these 
meetings,  and  giving  him  the  blessing  of  many  souls 
brought  to  Christ.  He  was  a  preacher  of  the  old 
school,  not  disdaining  the  elaborate  introduction  to  his 
sermons;  and  his  style  was  clear,  his  diction  elegant. 


l8  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

and  his  moral  always  helpful  and  practical.  Two 
generations  of  his  hearers  rise  up  and  bless  his  memory, 
and  we  might  have  said  three,  for  he  lived  to  baptize 
the  grandchildren  in  some  instances  of  his  early  mem- 
bers, and  having  always  kept  up  his  interest  in  and 
attendance  on  the  Sunday  School  he  knew  all  the 
children  of  his  congregation  personally,  and  loved  and 
was  loved  by  them. 

Quoting  from  the  memorial  sketch  written  by  the 
Rev.  H.  G.  Hill,  and  adopted  by  the  Synod  of  North 
Carolina:  ''Dr.  Rumple  was  a  strong  man  in  every 
part  of  his  nature.  His  physical  manhood  was  un- 
usually vigorous  and  well  developed.  His  intellectual 
powers  were  active,  well-balanced,  and  capable  of  sus- 
tained exertion.  His  moral  nature  manifested  ex- 
cellence in  all  the  varied  relations  of  life.  His  spiritual 
attributes  were  plainly  the  graces  wrought  by  the  Holy 
Spirit.  His  gifts,  his  graces,  and  his  rare  capacity 
for  work,  caused  him  to  be  constantly  employed,  after 
entering  the  ministry,  for  about  half  a  century.  As 
pastor  and  preacher  and  presbyter,  he  was  a  zealous 
and  faithful  laborer.  In  the  judiciatories  of  the 
church,  which  he  habitually  attended,  he  was  a  wise 
counselor  and  an  active  member.  As  a  trustee  of 
Davidson  College  and  of  Union  Theological  Seminary 
for  many  years,  he  could  always  be  depended  on  to 
perform  effciently  any  duty  that  devolved  upon  him. 
As  the  first  president  of  Barium  Springs  Orphans' 
Home,  he  did  more  for  founding  and  sustaining  this 
institution  than  any  member  of  our  Synod.  In  his 
private  and  social  relations.  Dr.  Rumple  was  a  typical 


SKETCH    OF    AUTHOR  I9 

Christian  g-entleman,  hospitable  towards  his  brethren, 
considerate  of  the  views  and  feeHngs  of  others,  and 
genial  in  all  his  social  intercourse.  He  had  his  per- 
sonal and  family  sorrows,  but  they  never  led  him  to 
murmur  at  the  orderings  of  Providence,  nor  to  be- 
come morose  in  disposition,  nor  to  cease  active  work 
for  the  Master.  Down  to  the  last  months  of  his  life, 
he  held  official  positions,  and  amid  growing  infirmities 
discharged  his  duties  with  conscientious  fidelity.  He 
dropped  the  oar  of  toil  only  to  receive  the  crown  of 
life.  'The  righteous  shall  be  in  everlasting  remem- 
brance, and  the  name  of  Jethro  Rumple  shall  be  hon- 
ored among  us  as  long  as  virtue  is  cherished  and  piety 
revered.'  " 

In  October  of  1857,  Dr.  Rumple  was  married  to 
Miss  Jane  Elizabeth  \\'harton,  daughter  of  W^atson 
W.  and  ]\Ialinda  Rankin  W^harton,  of  Greensboro, 
N.  C.  She  was  a  faithful  and  efficient  home-maker, 
and  a  sympathetic  helpmate  in  his  work.  Besides  this, 
being  possessed  of  musical  ability  and  some  training, 
she  for  years  maintained  a  little  musical  school, 
thereby  helping  to  furnish  the  means  whereby  the 
three  children — Watson  Wharton,  James  Walker,  and 
Linda  Lee — were  educated.  The  first  only  reached 
eighteen  years  of  age,  dying  in  his  senior  year  at 
Davidson  College.  The  second,  James  W.,  became  a 
lawyer  of  promise,  but  only  lived  to  be  twenty-nine, 
being  drowned  in  the  Shenandoah  River  in  Virginia. 
He  had,  about  two  years  previous  to  his  death,  been 
married  to  Jane  Dickson  Vardell,  and  one  son,  James 
Malcolmson,  had  blessed  their  union.     The  daughter, 


20  HISTORY  OF   ROWAX    COUXTY 

Linda  Lee,  in  October,  1891,  was  married  to  Rev.  C. 
G.  Vardell,  then  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
Newbem,  N.  C,  but  for  the  past  eighteen  years  the 
president  of  the  College  for  \\'omen  at  Red  Springs, 
X.  C,  known  first  as  the  Red  Springs  Seminary,  and 
afterwards  the  Southern  Presbyterian  College  and 
Conservatory  of  Music,  and  recently  the  name  has 
been  changed  to  ''Flora  ^MacDonald  College."  Mrs. 
Vardell  has  been  the  organizer  and  musical  director  of 
the  Conservatory,  one  of  the  largest  and  highest  grade 
conservatories  in  the  South.  It  was  at  the  home  of 
his  daughter,  in  Red  Springs,  X.  C,  after  a  decline 
of  several  months,  that  Dr.  Rumple  passed  away 
from  earth  to  the  home  above,  on  January  20,  1906. 

"And  I  heard  a  voice  from  heaven  saying  unto  me, 
\A'rite,  Blessed  are  the  dead  which  die  in  the  Lord 
.  .  .  .  and  their  works  do  follow  them." — Revela- 
tion 14  :  13. 

— Mrs.   Lixda  Rumple  Vardell 


J.  J.  Bruxer 

EDITOR    AXD   PUBEISHER 


JOHN  JOSEPH  BRUNER,  EDITOR 

John  Joseph  Bruner  was  born  in  RowaYi  County, 
N.  C,  on  the  Yadkin  River,  about  seven  miles  from 
SaHsbury.  on  the  twelfth  of  March,  1817.  He  was 
the  son  of  Henry  Bruner,  and  Edith  his  wife,  who 
was  the  youngest  daughter  of  Col.  West  Harris,  of 
Montgomery  County,  N.  C.  Colonel  Harris  married 
Edith  Ledbetter,  of  Anson  County,  and  was  a  field 
officer  in  the  Continental  army. 

When  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  a  little  over 
two  years  old,  his  father  died,  and  his  mother  re- 
turned with  her  two  children,  Selina  and  Joseph,  to 
her  father's  house  in  Montgomery. 

In  the  year  1825,  he  came  to  Salisbury,  under  the 
care  of  the  Hon.  Charles  Fisher,  father  of  the  late 
Col.  Chas.  F.  Fisher,  who  fell  at  the  battle  of  Bull 
Run.  Mr.  Bruner's  first  year  in  Salisbury  was  spent  in 
attending  the  school  taught  by  Henry  x\llemand.  This 
was  about  all  the  schooling  of  a  regular  style  that  he 
ever  received,  excepting  after  he  grew  up.  The  re- 
mainder of  his  education  was  of  a  practical  kind, 
and  was  received  at  the  case  and  press  of  a  printing 
office. 

At  the  age  of  nine  years,  he  entered  the  printing 
office  of  the  Western  Carolinian,  then  under  the 
editorial  control  of  the  Hon.  Philo  White,  late  of 
Whitestown,  N.  Y.  The  Carolinian  passed  into  the 
hands  of  the  Hon.  Burton  Craige.  in  1830.  and  then 


22  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN   COUNTY 

into  the  hands  of  Major  John  Beard,  late  of  Florida, 
]\Ir.  Bruner  continuing  in  the  office  until  1836.  In 
1839,  the  late  M.  C.  Pendleton,  of  Salisbury,  and  ^Mr. 
Bruner,  purchased  the  Watchman,  and  edited  it  in 
partnership  for  about  three  years.  The  Watchman 
had  been  started  in  the  year  1832,  by  Hamilton  C. 
Jones,  Esq.,  father  of  the  late  Col.  H.  C.  Jones,  of 
Charlotte.  The  Watchman  was  a  ^^'hig  and  anti- 
nullification  paper,  and  was  intended  to  support  Gen. 
Andrew  Jackson  in  his  anti-nullification  policy. 

In  1843,  ^I^-  Bruner  retired  from  the  Watchman, 
and  traveled  for  a  while  in  the  Southwest,  spending 
some  time  in  a  printing-office  in  ^lobile,  Ala.  Re- 
turning home,  he  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss 
Mary  Ann  Kincaid,  a  daughter  of  Thomas  Kincaid, 
Esq.  The  mother  of  Mrs.  Bruner  was  Clarissa  Har- 
lowe,  daughter  of  Col.  James  Brandon  of  Revolu- 
tionary fame,  who  married  Esther  Horah,  an  aunt  of 
the  late  V\'m.  H.  Horah,  so  long  known  as  a  leading 
bank  officer  in  Salisbury.  Col.  James  Brandon  was 
the  son  of  A\^illiam  Brandon,  who  settled  in  Thyatira 
as  early  as  1752,  and  whose  wife  was  a  ]\Iiss  Cathey 
of  that  region.  Having  married,  Mr.  Bruner  pre- 
pared for  his  life  work  by  re-purchasing  the  Watch- 
man,  in  partnership  with  the  late  Samuel  W.  James, 
in  1844.  After  six  years,  this  partnership  was  dis- 
solved, and  ]\Ir.  Bruner  became  sole  proprietor  and 
editor  of  the  Watchman,  which  he  continued  to  pub- 
lish until  the  office  was  captured  by  the  Federal  sol- 
diers in  the  spring  of  1865.  After  a  few  months, 
however,  Mr.  Bruner  was  permitted  to  re-occupy  his 


JOHN    JOSEPH    BRUNER  23 

dismantled  office,  and  resume  the  publication  of  his 
paper.  Three  years  later,  Lewis  Hanes,  Esq.,  of 
Lexington,  purchased  an  interest  in  the  paper,  and  it 
was  called  the  JVatchman  and  Old  North  State.  Re- 
tiring for  a  time  from  the  paper,  Mr.  Bruner  entered 
private  life  for  a  couple  of  years.  But  his  mission 
was  to  conduct  a  paper,  and  so  in  187 1  he  re-pur- 
chased it,  and  the  Watchman  made  its  regular  appear- 
ance weekly  until  his  death.  At  this  date,  the  Watch- 
man was  the  oldest  newspaper,  and  Mr.  Bruner  the 
oldest  editor  in  North  Carolina.  He  was  one  of  the 
few  remaining  Hnks  binding  the  antebellum  journalist 
with  those  of  the  present  day.  The  history  of  Mr. 
Bruner's  editorial  life  is  a  history  of  the  progress  of 
the  State.  He  was  contemporary  with  the  late 
Edward  J.  Hale,  Ex-Governor  Holden,  Wm.  J. 
Yates,  and  others  of  the  older  editors  of  the  State. 
\\'hen  he  began  to  publish  the  Watchman,  there  was 
not  a  daily  paper  in  North  Carolina,  and  no  rail- 
roads. In  the  forties  and  fifties,  the  Watchman  was 
the  leading  paper  in  Western  North  Carolina,  and  had 
subscribers  in  fifty  counties.  None  now  living  in 
Salisbury,  and  few  elsewhere  in  the  State,  have  had 
such  extensive  personal  acquaintance  and  knowledge 
of  men  and  things  in  the  early  years  of  this  century. 
Names  that  have  almost  ceased  to  be  spoken  on  our 
streets  were  familiar  to  him.  He  knew  such  men  as 
Hon.  Chas.  Fisher,  Col.  Chas.  F.  Fisher,  Rowland 
Jones,  Esq.,  Dr.  Pleasant  Henderson,  Hamilton  C. 
Jones,  Esq.,  Hon.  Burton  Craige,  the  Browns,  Longs, 
Cowans,   Beards,   Lockes,   Hendersons,   and  hosts   of 


24  HISTORY    OF    ROWAN    COUNTY 

Others  of  a  former  generation.  He  sat  under  the 
preaching-  of  every  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
since  its  organization — Dr.  Freeman,  Mr.  Rankin, 
Mr.  Espy,  Dr.  Sparrow,  Mr.  Frontis  (by  whom  he 
was  married j,  Mr.  Baker,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Rumple,  who 
was  his  pastor  and  friend  for  more  than  thirty  years. 
He  was  a  scholar  in  the  Sunday  School  when  Thos.  L. 
Cowan  was  superintendent,  and  was  afterwards  a 
teacher  and  superintendent  himself.  Col.  Philo 
White,  his  early  protector,  was  a  high-toned  Chris- 
tian man,  and  he  so  impressed  himself  upon  his  youth- 
ful ward  that  he  chose  him  for  a  model,  emulated  his 
example,  and  held  his  memory  in  cherished  veneration 
to  the  end  of  his  life.  At  the  age  of  seventeen,  ]\Ir. 
Bruner  was  received  into  the  communion  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Salisbury,  and  in  1846  he  was 
ordained  a  ruling  elder  in  that  Church,  and  continued 
to  serve  in  that  capacity  through  the  remainder  of  his 
life.  He  was  a  sincere,  earnest,  and  consistent  Chris- 
tian, and  faithful  in  the  discharge  of  all  private  and 
public  duties  of  the  Christian  profession.  The  family 
altar  was  established  in  his  household,  and  he  brought 
up  his  children  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the 
Lord. 

I\Ir.  Bruner  died,  after  a  lingering  illness,  ]\Iarch 
22i,  1890.  His  end  was  peace.  As  he  gently  passed 
away — so  gently  that  it  was  difficult  to  tell  when  life 
ended  and  immortality  began — a  brother  elder  by  his 
bedside  repeated  the  lines : 


JOHN    JOSEPH    BRUXER  25 

"How  blest  the  righteous  when  he  dies  I 
When  sinks  a  weary  soul  to  rest ; 
How  mildly  beam  the  closing  eyes  ; 
How  gently  leaves   the  expiring  breath!" 

In  many  things  Mr.  Brunei*  was  an  example  wortliy 
of  imitation.  His  memory  must  ever  shine  as 
one  of  the  purest,  sweetest,  best  elements  of  the  past. 
His  character  was  singularly  beautiful  and  upright. 
His  life  was  an  unwritten  sermon,  inestimably  pre- 
cious to  those  who  will  heed  the  lessons  which  it 
teaches,  and  to  whom  grace  may  be  given  to  follow 
his  good  example. 

He  was  emphatically  a  self-made  man.  His  learn- 
ing he  acquired  by  his  own  unaided  efforts :  his  prop- 
erty he  earned  by  the  sweat  of  his  brow ;  and  his 
reputation  he  achieved  by  prudence,  wisdom,  and  faith- 
fulness in  all  the  duties  of  life.  By  his  paper  he 
helped  multitudes  of  men  to  honorable  and  lucrative 
oflfice,  but  he  never  helped  himself.  PoHtically,  Mr. 
Bruner  never  faltered  in  his  allegiance  to  those  princi- 
ples to  which  he  believed  every  true  Southern  man 
should  adhere.  Up  to  the  very  last  he  was  unflinch- 
ing and  unwavering  in  his  love  for  the  South,  and  in 
his  adherence  to  the  very  best  ideals  and  traditions  of 
the  land  of  his  nativity.  At  no  time  during  his  life 
did  he  ever  "crook  the  pregnant  hinges  of  the  knee, 
that  thrift  might  follow  fawning."  In  the  very  best 
sense  of  the  word,  he  was  a  Southern  gentleman  of 
the  old  school.  The  old  South  and  the  new  were  all 
one  to  him — the  same  old  land,  the  same  old  people, 
the  same  old  traditions,  the  land  of  Washington,  of 


26  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

Jefferson,  of  Calhoun  and  Jackson,  of  Pettigrew  and 
Fisher,  of  Graham  and  Craige,  of  Stonewall  Jackson, 
of  Robert  E.  Lee  and  Jefferson  Davis. 

For  more  than  a  half-century  Mr.  Bruner  was  at 
the  head  of  the  Watchman,  and  through  its  columns, 
and  in  other  walks  of  a  well-spent  life,  impressed  his 
high  attributes  of  character  upon  the  people — not  only 
of  his  town  and  section,  but  throughout  the  State.  A 
fluent,  able,  and  conservative  writer,  with  but  one 
hope  or  purpose — to  sen-e  his  State  and  people  faith- 
fully and  honestly — he  steered  his  journal  from  year 
to  year,  from  decade  to  decade,  from  the  morning  of 
one  century  almost  to  the  morning  of  another,  until 
he  made  himself  and  his  paper  honored  landmarks  of 
this  age  and  section.  He  was  firm  in  his  convictions, 
a  bold  and  fearless  advocate  of  the  rights  of  the  peo- 
ple, but  at  all  times  characterized  by  a  degree  of  liber- 
ality and  conservatism  that  won  for  him  respect  and 
friendship  even  from  those  who  might  differ  with  him 
in  matters  of  Church  or  State.  He  recorded  truthfully 
and  without  envy  or  prejudice  the  birth  and  downfall 
of  political  parties.  He — inspired  by  a  united  effort 
to  Americanize  and  weld  together  every  section  of  this 
great  Union — waxed  eloquent  in  praise  of  wise  and 
sagacious  leaders,  and  he  blotted  with  a  tear  the  paper 
on  which  he  wrote  of  sectional  strife  and  discord.  He 
chronicled  with  sober  earnestness  the  birth  of  a  new 
republic,  and  like  other  loyal  sons  of  the  South  raised 
his  arm  and  pen  in  its  defense.  He  watched  with  un- 
feigned interest  its  short  and  stormy  career,  and  then 
wrote    dispassionately    of    the    furling    of    its    blood- 


JOHN    JOSE  I' II    BRUNER  2/ 

Stained  banner.  He  was  ever  found  fighting  for  what 
he  beHeved  to  be  the  best  interests  of  his  people,  and 
advocating  such  men  and  measures  as  seemed  to  him 
just  and  right.  An  old-hne  Whig  before  the  war,  he 
aspired  not  to  poHtical  preferment  or  position,  but 
only  to  an  honored  stand  in  the  ranks  of  a  loyal  and 
beneficent  citizenship.  Joining  in  with  the  rank  and 
file  of  the  white  men  of  the  conquered  South,  he  was 
content  to  lend  all  his  talent  and  energy  in  aiding 
them  in  the  upbuilding  of  an  impoverished  section. 

Blameless  and  exemplary  in  all  the  relations  of  life, 
a  Christian  gentleman,  he  met  all  the  requirements  of 
the  highest  citizenship — and  what  higher  eulogy  can 
any  hope  to  merit  ? 

"The  great  work  laid  upon  his  three-score  years 
Is  done,  and  well  done.     If  we  drop  our  tears, 
We  mourn  no  blighted  hope  or  broken  plan 
With  him  whose  life  stands  rounded  and  approved 
In  the  full  growth  and  stature  of  a  man." 

— ]\Irs.  Beulah  Stewart  ^Ioore 


ROWAN  COUNTY 

CHAPTER  I 


GENERAL    DESCRIPTION 

It  is  but  natural  that  the  inhabitants  of  a  country 
should  desire  to  trace  back  its  history  as  far  as  possi- 
ble. No  doubt  many  of  the  citizens  of  Rowan — the 
queenly  mother  of  more  than  a  score  of  counties — 
would  love  to  know  the  early  history  of  their  native 
place,  the  appearance  of  the  country  when  first  seen 
by  civilized  men,  and  the  character  of  the  original 
inhabitants.  Having  had  occasion  to  make  some  ex- 
amination of  early  documents  and  histories,  and  to 
consult  a  few  of  the  oldest  citizens,  whose  memories 
a-re  stored  with  the  traditions  of  the  past,  the  writer 
has  conceived  the  opinion  that  many  of  his  fellow- 
citizens  would  be  glad  to.  have  access  to  some  of  these 
facts;  and  through  the  kindness  of  the  Editor  of  the 
Watchman,  a  few  sketches  will  be  furnished  for  their 
entertainment. 

\\^  have  a  vague  impression  that  the  early  white 
settlers  found  here  a  vast  unbroken  wilderness,  cov- 
ered with  dense  forests,  with  here  and  there  a  cluster 
of  Indian  wigwams,  and  varied  with  an  occasional 
band  of  painted  savages  on  the  warpath,  or  a  hunting 
party  armed  with  tomahawks,  bows  and  arrows.     But 


30  HISTORY  OF   ROWAX   COUNTY 

beyond  these  vague  impressions  we  have  little  definite 
knowledge.  Nor  is  it  possible  at  this  late  day  to  rescue 
from  oblivion  much  valuable  information  that  could 
have  been  gathered  a  generation  or  two  ago.  Still 
there  are  scattered  facts  lying  at  various  places,  that 
may  be  collected  and  woven  into  a  broken  narrative, 
that  will  be  more  satisfactory  than  the  vague  impres- 
sions now  in  our  possession. 

The  earliest  accounts  of  the  hill-country  of  North 
Carolina,  accessible  to  the  writer,  are  those  contained 
in  Lawson's  History  of  a  Journey  from  Charleston  to 
Pamlico  Sound,  in  the  year  1701.  Starting  from  the 
former  place  in  December,  1700,  he  passed  around  to 
the  mouth  of  Santee  River  in  a  boat,  and  thence  up 
that  stream  for  a  distance  in  the  same  way.  Then 
leaving  the  river  he  traveled  up  between  the  Santee 
and  Pee  Dee  Rivers,  until  he  crossed  the  Yadkin  River 
at  Trading  Ford,  within  six  miles  of  where  Salisbury 
now  stands.  As  there  were  no  European  settlers 
from  the  lower  Santee  to  Pamlico,  and  as  he  often 
forgets  to  mention  the  scenes  through  which  he  passed, 
it  is  very  difficult  to  trace  his  exact  route.  Still  there 
are  some  waymarks  by  which  we  can  identify 
a  part  of  his  course.  Among  the  first  of  these 
is  the  High  Hills  of  Santee,  in  Sumter  County,  S.  C. 
Then  the  Waxsaws,  Kadapaus  (Catawba),  and 
Sugarees,  have  left  names  behind  them  that  indicate 
the  spots  he  visited.  The  name  ''Sugaree"  suggests 
the  inquiry  whether  the  ancient  name  of  Sugar 
Creek,  was  not  Sugaree,  rather  than  "Sugaw,"  as 
found  in  old  records. 


GENERAL  DESCRIPTION  3I 

From  the  Catawbas,  ]\Ir.  Lawson  traveled  about  one 
hundred  miles,  at  a  rough  estimate,  to  Sapona  Town, 
on  the  Sapona  River.  Taking  into  account  the  distance, 
in  a  route  somewhat  circuitous,  the  size  of  the  river, 
and  the  description  of  the  locahty,  there  can  remain 
little  doubt  on  a  reasonable  mind  that  the  place  in- 
dicated as  Sapona  Town  was  the  Indian  settlement  on 
the  Yadkin  River,  near  Trading  Ford.  This  view  is 
confirmed  by  the  names  and  distances  that  are  men- 
tioned beyond  the  Sapona  River,  such  as  Heighwarrie 
(Uwharie),  Sissipahaw  (Haw),  Eno,  the  Occonee- 
chees,  the  Xeuse,  which  correspond  exactly  with 
places  and  distances  as  now  known.  It  is  true  that 
Lawson  says  that  the  Sapona  is  the  "west  branch  of 
the  Clarendon,  or  Cape  Fair  River;"  from  which 
some  have  supposed  that  he  meant  the  Deep  River. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  Colonel 
Byrd,  the  author  of  the  "History  of  the  Dividing 
Line,"  a  man  of  varied  learning  and  close  observation, 
says  that  Deep  River  is  the  "north  branch  of  the  Pee 
Dee."  The  error  in  both  cases  is  excusable,  from  the 
fact  that  the  places  mentioned  are  several  hundred 
miles  in  the  interior,  and  far  beyond  the  extreme 
verge  of  civilization  in  those  days. 

The  region  of  country  before  reaching  the  Sapona 
— that  is,  the  territor}^  now  occupied  by  Rowan  County 
and  those  south  of  her — is  described  by  Lawson  as 
"pleasant  savanna  ground,  high  and  dry,  having  very 
few  trees  upon  it,  and  those  standing  at  a  great  dis- 
tance ;  free  from  grubs  or  underwood.  A  man  near 
Sapona  may  more  easily  clear  ten  acres  of  ground 


32  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

than  in  some  places  he  can  one ;  there  being  much  loose 
stone  upon  the  land,  lying  very  convenient  for  making 
of  dry  walls  or  any  other  sort  of  durable  fence.  The 
country  abounds  likewise  with  curious  bold  creeks, 
navigable  for  small  craft,  disgorging  themselves  into 
the  main  rivers  that  vent  themselves  into  the  ocean." 
(Lawson,  History  Xorth  Carolina,  p.  80.) 

Of  the  last  day's  journey  before  reaching  Sapona, 
he  says :  "That  day  we  passed  over  a  delicious  country 
— none  that  I  ever  saw  exceeds  it.  Wt  saw  fine- 
bladed  grass  six  feet  high  along  the  banks  of  the 
rivulets.  Coming  that  day  about  thirty  miles,  we 
reached  the  fertile  and  pleasant  banks  of  the  Sapona 
River,  whereon  stands  the  Indian  town  and  fort ;  nor 
could  all  Europe  afford  a  pleasanter  stream,  were  it 
inhabited  by  Christians  and  cultivated  by  ingenious 
hands.  This  most  pleasant  river  may  be  something 
broader  than  the  Thames  at  Kingston,  keeping  a  con- 
tinual warbling  noise  with  its  reverberating  upon  the 
bright  marble  rocks."  [^Marble,  in  its  general  signifi- 
cation, means  any  kind  of  mineral  of  compact  tex- 
ture, and  susceptible  of  a  good  polish,  whether  lime- 
stone, serpentine,  porphyry,  or  granite  (See  Webster). 
From  his  frequent  mention  of  marble,  as  found  in 
South  Carolina  and  North  Carolina,  we  infer  that 
Lawson  used  the  word  in  this  broad  sense,  as  applica- 
ble to  granite,  sandstone,  slate,  etc.]  "It  is  beautified 
by  a  numerous  train  of  swans  and  other  waterfowl, 
not  common,  though  extraordinary  pleasing  to  the  eye. 
One  side  of  the  river  is  hemmed  in  with  mountainy 
ground,  the  other  side  proving  as  rich  a  soil  as  any 


GENERAL  DESCRIPTION  33 

this  western  world  can  afford.  *  *  *  Taken  with 
the  pleasantness  of  the  place,  we  walked  along  the 
river  side,  where  we  found  a  delightful  island  made 
by  the  river  and  a  branch,  there  being  several  such 
plots  of  ground  environed  by  this  silver  stream.  Nor 
can  anything  be  desired  by  a  contented  mind  as  to  a 
pleasant  situation  but  what  may  here  be  found,  every 
step  presenting  some  new  object  which  still  adds  in- 
vitation to  the  traveler  in  these  parts."  (Lawson, 
pp.  8i,  84,  etc.) 

The  foregoing  quotation  presents  several  points  of 
interest.  The  first  is  that  the  country  was  not  then — 
one  hundred  and  eighty  years  ago — clothed  with  dense 
forests  as  we  are  apt  to  imagine,  but  was  either  open 
prairie,  or  dotted  here  and  there  with  trees,  like  the 
parks  of  the  old  country.  Along  the  streams,  as  we 
gather  from  other  pages  of  his  narrative,  there  were 
trees  of  gigantic  height,  so  high  that  they  could  not 
kill  turkeys  resting  on  the  upper  branches.  This  agrees 
with  the  recollection  of  the  older  citizens,  and  the  tra- 
ditions handed  down  from  their  fathers.  A  venerable 
citizen,  now  living  in  the  southwestern  part  of  this 
county,  remembers  when  the  region  called  Sandy 
Ridge  was  destitute  of  forests,  and  that  his  father 
told  him  that,  when  he  settled  there,  about  1750,  he 
had  to  haul  the  logs  for  his  house  more  than  a  mile. 
Another  honored  citizen  of  Iredell,  lately  deceased, 
told  the  writer  that  he  recollected  the  time  when  the 
highlands  between  Fourth  Creek  and  Third  Creek 
were  open  prairies,  covered  with  grass  and  wild  pea- 
vines,  and  that  the  wild  deer  would  mingle  with  their 


34  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

herds  of  cattle  as  they  grazed.  A  stock  law  in  those 
days  would  have  been  very  unpopular,  however  desira- 
ble in  these  days  of  thicker  settlements  and  extended 
farms. 

Another  point  is  the  exceeding  beauty  and  fertility 
of  the  valley  of  the  Sapona  or  Yadkin  River.  I  sup- 
pose an  intelligent  man,  who  would  read  the  descrip- 
tion of  Lawson,  standing  on  the  Indian  Hill  on  the 
banks  of  the  Yadkin  a  mile  below  Trading  Ford,  could 
hardly  fail  to  recognize  in  the  surrounding  scenery 
every  feature  of  the  description.  Beneath  his  feet 
would  be  the  mound  whereon  stood  the  Sapona  fort, 
surrounded  by  palisadoes.  A  hundred  yards  southeast 
roll  the  waters  of  the  stream  into  which  Lawson  feared 
that  the  northwest  storm  of  wind  would  blow  him. 
Around  him,  on  the  mound  and  on  the  plain  below,  lie 
innumerable  fragments  of  pottery,  with  rudely  orna- 
mented flint  arrow  heads,  bones,  shells,  etc.  Around 
him  is  a  large  level  plateau  of  fertile  land,  perhaps  one 
thousand  acres  in  extent,  a  part  of  the  famed  "Jersey 
lands."  Just  above  the  ford  is  the  beautiful  island 
containing  a  hundred  acres — the  central  part  under 
cultivation,  but  its  edges  fringed  with  trees  and  clam- 
bering vines.  In  the  center  of  the  island  he  will  find 
an  Indian  burying-ground,  where  numerous  bones  are 
turned  over  by  the  plow,  and  where  Indian  pottery 
and  a  huge  Indian  battle-ax  have  been  found.  Below 
the  ford  are  several  smaller  islands,  resting  on  the 
bosom  of  the  smoothly  flowing  stream.  The  swans, 
beavers,  deer,  and  buffaloes  have  fled  before  the  march 
of  civiHzation,  but  on  the  south  side  of  the  stream 


GENERAL  DESCRIPTION  35 

Still  Stand  the  bold  bluffs  rising  abruptly  from  the  river 
bank.  Some  of  these  heights  are  now  clothed  with 
cedars  and  other  forest  trees,  but  one  of  them  is 
crowned  with  an  old  family  mansion,  that  was  for- 
merly known  as  ''The  Heights  of  Gowerie/'  At  the 
foot  of  the  hill  is  a  spring  of  pure  cold  water,  and 
nearby  a  mill,  driven  by  water  drawn  from  the  river 
above  by  a  long  canal.  A  cedar  grove  waves  its 
evergreen  branches  along  the  level  stretch  of  ground 
opposite  the  island.  Not  many  years  ago  a  lady,  with 
the  hectic  flush  upon  her  cheeks,  returned  from  a  dis- 
tant land  to  visit  for  the  last  time  her  native  place— 
the  old  mansion  on  the  hill.  She  was  accompanied  by 
a  gentleman  residing  in  the  neighborhood,  who  after 
her  departure  penned  the  following  lines,  in  which  he 
has  interwoven  a  description  of  the  surrounding 
scenery,  and  which  he  courteously  furnished  at  the 
request  of  the  writer. 

HEIGHTS  OF  GOWERIE 
Pensive  I  stand  on  Gowerie's  height, 
All  bathed  in  autumn's  mellow  light — 

My  childhood's  happy  home; 
Where  Yadkin  rolls  its  tide  along 
With  many  a  wail  and  mournful  song, 

As  its  waters  dash  and  foam. 

And  memory's  harp  tunes  all  its  strings, 
When  I  catch  the  dirge  the  river  sings, 

As  it  sweeps  by  Gowerie's  side. 
And  viewless  tongues  oft  speak  to  me, 
Some  in  sorrow  and  some  in  glee, 

From  the  river's  fitful  tide. 


36  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

On  yon  isle,  just  up  the  river, 

Where  sunbeams  dance  and  leaflets  quiver, 

Three  fancied  forms  I  see. 
That  blest— that  sainted  trio  band, 
Together  walk  adown  the   strand. 

And  wave  their  hands  at  me. 

A  father  'tis,  whom  yet  I  mourn. 
And  sisters  two,  who  long  have  gone- 
Gone  to  the  other  shore. 
They  beck  me  to  the  goodly  land. 
Where,  with  them,  I'll  walk  hand  in  hand, 
Ne'er  to  be  parted  more. 

When  from  the  fount  hard  by  the  mill, 
Just  at  the  foot  of  Gowerie's  hill, 

I  drink  the  sparkling  water; 
Echoes  from  yon  cedar  grove, 
From  which  the  sighing  zephyrs  rove, 

Say,  "Come  to  me,  my  daughter." 


CHAPTER  II 


THE     ABORIGINES 

The  earliest  inhabitants  of  this  country  known  to 
the  Europeans  were  the  wild  Indians  of  the  Catawba, 
Woccon,  and  Sapona  tribes,  with  the  Keyauwees  on 
the  Uwharie  River,  and  the  Occoneechees  on  the 
Eno.  These  were  stationary,  or  at  least  had  their 
home  here.  But  over  the  whole  country,  from  the 
Great  Lakes  on  the  North  to  the  rivers  of  Carolina, 
there  roved  hunting  and  war  parties  of  Hurons, 
Iroquois,  Sinnagers  or  Senecas — parts  of  the  great 
Five  Nations — who  were  the  terror  of  the  less  warlike 
tribes  of  the  South.  On  the  upper  waters  of  the  Tar 
and  Neuse  Rivers  dwelt  the  Tuscaroras,  the  most 
numerous  and  warlike  of  the  North  Carolina  Indians, 
occupying  fifteen  towns,  and  having  twelve  hundred 
fighting  men.  The  whole  Indian  population  of  North 
Carolina,  in  the  year  1700,  not  counting  the  Catawbas 
on  the  southern  borders,  or  the  Cherokees  beyond  the 
mountains,  is  estimated  at  about  five  thousand. 

]\Ir.  Lawson  speaks  of  the  Indians  of  North  Car- 
olina, as  a  well-shaped,  clean-made  people,  straight, 
incHned  to  be  tall,  of  a  tawny  color,  having  black  or 
hazel  eyes,  with  the  white  marbled  red  streaks.  They 
were  never  bald,  but  had  little  or  no  beard,  and  they 
allowed  their  nails  to  grow  long  and  untrimmed.     In 


38  HISTORY   OF   ROWAX    COUNTY 

their  gait,  they  were  grave  and  majestic,  never  walk- 
ing backward  and  forward  in  contemplation  as  the 
white  people  do.  They  were  dexterous  and  steady 
with  their  hands  and  feet,  never  letting  things  fall 
from  their  hands,  never  stumbling,  able  to  walk  on  the 
smallest  pole  across  a  stream,  and  could  stand  on  the 
ridgepole  of  a  house  and  look  unconcernedly  over  the 
gable  end.  But  with  all  their  dexterity,  the  men  had  a 
supreme  contempt  for  regular  labor.  Hunting,  fish- 
ing, and  fighting  were  gentlemanly  accomplishments, 
and  in  these  enterprises  the  men  would  undergo  any 
amount  of  fatigue,  but  the  hoeing,  digging,  and  all 
arduous  labor  were  left  exclusively  to  the  women. 

Like  the  inhabitants  of  the  Mauritius,  as  mentioned 
in  Bernardin  St.  Pierre's  "Paul  and  Mrginia,"  they 
named  their  months  by  some  outward  characteristic, 
as  the  month  of  strawberries,  the  month  of  mulberries, 
the  month  of  dogwood  blossoms,  the  month  of  her- 
rings, or  the  month  when  the  turkey  gobbles.  They 
had  few  religious  rites,  yet  they  offered  firstfruits,  and 
the  more  serious  of  them  threw  the  first  bit  or  spoon- 
ful of  each  meal  into  the  ashes ;  which  they  considered 
equivalent  to  the  Englishman's  pulling  oft'  his  hat  and 
talking  when  he  sat  down  to  meat. 

The  best  view  of  the  theological  and  religious 
opinions  of  the  Sapona  Indians,  who  dwelt  on  the 
banks  of  the  Yadkin,  is  that  given  by  "Bearskin,"  the 
Sapona  Indian  hunter,  who  accompanied  the  Com- 
missioners of  \'irginia  in  running  the  dividing  line  be- 
tween Virginia  and  Xorth  Carolina,  in  1728.  (See 
History  Dividing  Line,  pp.  50,  51.)      In  substance,  he 


THE   ABORIGINES  39 

Stated  that  they  beheved  in  one  supreme  God,  who 
made  the  world  a  long  time  ago,  and  superintended  the 
sun,  moon,  and  stars;  that  he  had  made  many  worlds 
before.  That  God  is  good,  and  loves  good  people, 
making  them  rich  and  healthy,  and  safe  from  their 
enemies,  but  punishing  those  who  cheat  and  tell  lies 
with  hunger  and  sickness,  and  allowing  them  to  be 
knocked  in  the  head  and  scalped  by  their  enemies.  He 
also  supposed  there  were  subordinate  gods,  or  evil 
spirits.  He  believed  in  a  future  state,  and  that  after 
death  the  good  and  the  bad  started  off  on  the  same 
road,  until  a  flash  of  lightning  separated  them,  where 
this  road  forks  into  two  paths.  The  righthand  path 
led  to  a  charming  country  of  perpetual  spring,  where 
the  people  are  ever  young,  and  the  women  as  bright 
as  stars,  and  never  scold.  In  this  land  there  is  abund- 
ance of  deer,  turkeys,  elks,  and  buffaloes,  ever  fat  and 
gentle,  and  trees  forever  laden  with  fruit.  Near  the 
entrance  of  this  fair  land  a  venerable  man  examines 
the  character  of  all,  and  if  they  have  behaved  well,  he 
opens  to  them  the  crystal  gate,  and  allows  them  to 
enter. 

They  who  are  driven  to  the  left  hand  find  a  rugged 
path  that  leads  to  a  barren  country  of  perpetual  winter, 
where  the  ground  is  covered  with  eternal  snow,  and 
the  trees  bear  nothing  but  icicles.  The  inhabitants 
are  always  hungry,  yet  have  nothing  to  eat  except  a 
bitter  potato,  that  gives  them  the  gripes  and  fills  the 
body  with  painful  ulcers.  The  women  there  are  old, 
ugly,  shrill-voiced,  and  armed  with  claws  like  pan- 
thers, with  which  they  scratch  the  men  who  fail  to  be 


40  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

enamored  with  them.  At  the  end  of  this  path  sits  a 
dreadful  old  woman,  on  a  monstrous  toadstool,  with 
her  head  covered  with  rattlesnakes  instead  of  hair, 
striking  terror  into  the  beholder  as  she  pronounces 
sentence  upon  every  wretch  that  stands  at  her  bar. 
After  this  they  are  delivered  to  huge  turkey  buzzards 
that  carry  them  off  to  their  dreadful  home.  After  a 
number  of  years  in  this  purgatory  they  are  driven 
back  into  the  world,  and  another  trial  given  to  them. 
Gross  and  sensual  as  this  religion  is,  it  embraces  the 
cardinal  points  of  belief  in  a  God,  the  distinction  be- 
tween right  and  wrong,  and  the  future  state  of  rewards 
and  punishments.  But  these  children  of  nature  had 
very  few  acts  expressive  of  religious  feeling,  and 
those  of  the  rudest  kind.  Lawson  in  his  travels  (His- 
tory of  North  Carolina,  p.  65)  was  permitted  to  wit- 
ness among  the  Waxsaws  a  feast  ''held  in  commemora- 
tion of  the  plentiful  harvest  of  com  they  had  reaped 
the  summer  before,  with  an  united  supplication  for  the 
like  plentiful  produce  the  year  ensuing."  This  cere- 
mony does  not  seem  to  have  been  accompanied  by  any 
spoken  prayers  or  addresses,  but  consisted  of  a  feast 
of  ''loblolly,"  i.  e.,  mush  of  Indian  meal,  stewed 
peaches,  and  bear  venison ;  and  a  dance.  Their  music 
was  made  on  a  drum  constructed  of  an  earthen  por- 
ridge pot,  covered  with  a  dressed  deerskin,  and  with 
gourds  having  corn  in  them.  It  was  a  masquerade, 
and  their  visors  were  made  of  gourds,  and  their  heads 
were  plentifully  adorned  with  feathers.  Some  of  the 
dancers  had  great  horse  bells  tied  to  their  legs,  and 
small  hawk  bells  about  their  necks.     ]Modern  civiliza- 


THE   ABORIGINES  4I 

tion  has  not  yet  adopted  the  bells  and  gourd  masks  of 
the  Waxsaws,  but  there  is  no  telling  what  "progress" 
may  accomplish  in  that  direction.  In  these  dances  the 
men  figured  first  alone,  and  after  they  were  done 
capering,  the  women  and  girls  held  the  ground  for 
about  six  successive  hours.  Though  the  dancing  was 
not  ''promiscuous,"  after  the  modern  style,  it  was 
nevertheless  accompanied  by  acts  so  unbecoming  and 
impure  as  to  render  it  highly  immoral  and  corrupting. 

In  addition  to  this  worship  of  dancing,  Mr.  Lawson 
says  that  the  Indians  were  much  addicted  to  the  prac- 
tice of  sacrificing  chicken  cocks  to  the  God  who  hurts 
them,  that  is  the  devil  (History  of  North  Carolina, 
pp.  97,  98).  But  the  only  visible  objects  of  reverence 
among  the  Indians  were  the  bones  of  their  ancestors, 
especially  of  their  chiefs,  which  they  kept  rolled  up  in 
dressed  deerskins,  and  carried  with  them  w^herever 
they  went.  Among  some  of  the  tribes  they  had  a 
building  called  a  ''Quiogozon,"  in  which  they  kept  the 
bones  of  their  dead  kings,  and  as  Mr.  Lawson  says 
(p.  324)  their  "idols,"  where  the  King,  the  conjurer, 
and  a  few  old  men  were  wont  to  spend  several  days  at 
a  time  in  practicing  secret  and  mysterious  religious 
rites. 

Our  country  abounds  in  scattered  relics  of  this  de- 
parted race,  in  the  shape  of  the  blue  flint  arrow  heads, 
fragments  of  pottery,  and  especially  mounds  of  earth 
in  various  places.  A  gentleman  of  our  county  of  anti- 
quarian tastes  and  accomplishments  reports  that  there 
are  several  mounds  in  Davie  County  supposed  to  con- 
tain   relics    of    the    Indians.     There   is    also    another 


42  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

artificial  mound  near  Mount  Pleasant,  beside  a  small 
stream,  some  sixty  feet  in  diameter  and  six  or  eight 
feet  high,  but  not  containing  any  relics.  Several 
mounds  abounding  with  relics  are  known  to  exist  in 
Caldwell  County.  One  or  more  have  been  found  in 
Montgomery  County,  near  Little  River,  and  it  has 
been  reported  that  large  vases,  or  sarcophagi,  have 
been  recently  discovered  in  one  of  them.  In  that  same 
region  beautifully  dressed  quartz  mortars,  supposed  to 
have  been  used  for  grinding  and  mixing  their  paints, 
have  been  found.  These  savages  were  in  the  habit  of 
painting  their  faces  and  bodies  before  going  into  bat- 
tle, that  by  their  hideous  appearance  they  might  terrify 
and  demoralize  their  enemies.  And  it  can  scarcely  be 
doubted  that  this  painting  was  used  as  a  disguise,  that 
it  might  not  be  known  by  the  enemy  who  was  the 
slayer  of  their  fallen  warriors;  for  the  law  of  ''blood 
revenge"  prevailed  among  them,  not  much  unlike  that 
of  the  ancient  Israelites.  Hence  it  might  prove  in- 
convenient to  be  known  as  the  slayer,  as  it  was  a  fatal 
thing  for  Abner  to  be  known  as  the  slayer  of  the 
light-footed  Asahel. 

In  addition  to  these  mounds,  Mr.  Baldwin,  in  his 
"Ancient  America"  (p.  24),  mentions  "Harrison 
Mound"  in  South  Carolina,  four  hundred  and  eighty 
feet  in  circumference,  and  fifteen  feet  high.  This 
mound  is  attributed  to  the  "Mound  Builders,"  or  an- 
cient Toltecs.  A  still  larger  "Mound"  has  recently 
been  brought  to  public  notice  through  the  columns  of 
the  Salisbury  Watchman,  situated  in  Old  Rowan 
County — now  Davidson — about  eight  miles  from  Salis- 


THE   ABORIGINES  43 

bury.  In  many  respects  this  is  a  work  of  considerable 
interest,  both  as  to  its  situation  and  character.  It 
stands  within  one  hundred  yards  of  the  Yadkin  River, 
at  the  point  where  Lawson  seems  to  locate  "Sapona 
Town,"  on  *'Sapona  River,"  near  the  celebrated  "Trad- 
ing Ford."  As  this  lies  in  the  ancient  territory  of 
Rowan,  it  will  require  a  more  particular  notice.  The 
"Trading  Ford"  is  so  named  because  it  was  on  the 
ancient  "Trading  Path,"  leading  from  Virginia  to  the 
Catawba  and  other  Southern  Indians.  Colonel  Byrd, 
in  his  History  of  the  Dividing  Line  (1728),  describes 
this  "Path"  as  crossing  the  Roanoke  at  IMoni-seep 
Ford,  thence  over  Tar  River,  Flat  River,  Little  River, 
Eno,  through  the  Haw  Old  Fields,  over  the  Haw,  the 
Aramanchy  (Alamance),  and  Deep  River.  The  next 
point  was  Yadkin  River,  where  he  says,  "The  soil  was 
exceedingly  fertile  on  both  sides,  abounding  in  rank 
grass  and  prodigiously  large  trees,  and  for  plenty  of 
fish,  fowl,  and  venison  is  inferior  to  no  part  of  the 
Northern  continent.  There  the  traders  commonly  lie 
still  for  some  days  to  recruit  their  horses'  flesh,  as  well 
as  to  recover  their  own  spirits.  Six  miles  further  is 
Crane  Creek,  so  named  from  its  being  the  rendezvous 
of  great  armies  of  cranes,  which  wage  a  more  cruel 
war  at  this  day  with  the  frogs  and  fish  than  they  used 
to  do  in  the  days  of  Homer.  About  three-score  miles 
more  bring  you  to  the  first  town  of  the  Catawbas, 
called  Nauvasa,  situated  on  the  banks  of  the  Santee 
(Catawba)  River.  Besides  this  town  there  are  five 
others  belonging  to  the  same  Nation,  lying  on  the 
same    stream,    within    the    distance    of    twenty   miles. 


44  HISTORY   OF   ROWAX   COUNTY 

These  Indians  were  all  called  formerly  by  the  general 
name  of  Usherees,  and  were  a  very  numerous  and 
powerful  people  *  *  *  but  are  now  (1728)  reduced 
to  little  more  than  four  hundred  fighting  men,  besides 
women  and  children"  (History  Dividing  Line,  p.  85). 
Speaking  of  the  Sapponies,  or  Saponas,  Colonel  Byrd 
remarks  that  they  formerly  lived  upon  the  "Yadkin 
River,"  not  far  below  the  mountains ;  thus  placing 
them  exactly  where  Lawson  puts  them,  though  he 
calls  the  river  by  another  name,  i.  e.,  "Yadkin,"  in- 
stead of  "Sapona."  When  these  Indians  had  become 
reduced  in  numbers,  and  no  longer  able  to  resist  the 
incursions  of  the  Northern  Indians — Iroquois  or  Sen- 
ecas — they  resolved  to  form  a  combination,  or  fusion 
of  the  Saponas,  Toteros,  Keyauwees,  and  Occonee- 
chees,  for  mutual  defense  and  protection.  Two  or 
three  years  after  Lawson  passed  here,  that  is,  about 
1703,  these  consolidated  tribes  removed  from  Carolina 
into  Virginia,  and  settled  at  Christiana,  ten  miles 
north  of  the  Roanoke  (Lawson,  p.  83;  Dividing  Line, 
p.  89).  After  remaining  there  twenty-five  or  thirty 
years,  they  returned  to  Carolina  and  dwelt  with  the 
Catawbas  (Dividing  Line,  p.  89).  Colonel  Byrd  de- 
scribes these  Saponas  as  having  "something  great  and 
remarkable  in  their  countenances,  and  as  being  the 
honestest  as  well  as  the  bravest  Indians  he  was  ever 
acquainted  with."  Colonel  Spottswood  —  the  Gov- 
ernor of  Virginia — placed  a  schoolmaster  among  them 
to  instruct  their  children,  though  from  the  shortness  of 
time  they  were  under  his  tuition,  he  taught  them  little 
else  than  the  much  needed  grace  of  cleanliness. 


THE   ABORIGINES  45 

It  was  these  Saponas  that  occupied  the  important 
post  near  "Trading  Ford,"  when  the  trading  cara- 
vans, with  their  goods  packed  on  a  hundred  horses, 
stopped  to  recruit  for  five  or  six  days,  and  doubtless 
to  trade  with  the  Saponas  and  their  confederates.  Of 
the  transactions  at  that  deserted  metropoHs,  we  have 
no  records.  Tradition  says  that  at  "Swearing  Creek," 
a  few  miles  beyond  Sapona,  the  traders  were  in  the 
habit  of  taking  a  solemn  oath  never  to  reveal  any  un- 
lawful proceedings  that  might  occur  during  their  so- 
journ among  the  Indians. 

The  "Indian  Hill,"  as  it  is  now  called,  standing  in 
sight  of  the  North  Carolina  Railroad,  about  a  half- 
mile  in  front  of  Dr.  Meares'  residence,  was  evidently 
once  the  fort  of  the  Indian  Town  of  Sapona.  Besides 
the  pottery  and  arrow  heads  and  chips  of  flint  lying 
on  its  sides  and  base,  the  older  citizens  remember  that 
in  their  boyhood  they  were  accustomed  to  find  lead 
there,  in  the  shape  of  shot,  bullets,  etc.  This  lead  was 
either  dropped  by  the  traders  or  the  Indians,  in  their 
early  days,  or  the  fort  was  the  scene  of  some  unre- 
corded conflict  between  the  Saponas  and  Iroquois  after 
the  introduction  of  firearms.  Or  it  may  be  that  In- 
dian Hill  was  the  scene  of  some  old-time  shooting 
match  between  the  sturdy  marksmen  of  the  "Jerseys," 
in  the  forgotten  days  of  a  past  generation. 

The  origin  of  this  mound  is  surrounded  with  more 
doubt  than  its  use  by  the  wild  Indians.  It  contains 
ten  or  fifteen  thousand  cubic  yards  of  earth,  some  of  it 
carried  from  pits  a  hundred  yards  or  more  distant. 
This  would  require,  with  their  rude  implements  and 


46  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

dilatory  habits,  a  hundred  workers  for  a  half-year. 
Now  there  is  nothing  better  known  than  the  improvi- 
dence, lack  of  foresight,  and  especially  detestation  of 
drudgery,  that  characterized  the  ''gentleman  savage." 
If  done  by  the  Indians,  it  was  the  work  of  the  women 
alone;  and  this  fact  suggests  the  existence  of  a  large 
and  powerful  tribe,  somewhat  more  civilized  than  the 
wild  Indians.  And  though  it  is  not  commonly  held 
that  the  Toltecs,  or  Mound-builders,  penetrated  so  far 
east  as  the  Atlantic  slope,  still  it  is  possible  that  in  the 
distant  ages  when  this  civilized  race  dwelt  in  the  val- 
ley of  the  Mississippi  and  the  Ohio,  there  may  have 
been  some  solitary  out-stations,  or  colonies,  between 
the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 
When  the  ''Ishmaelitish"  wild  Indians  succeeded  in 
overpowering  their  more  civihzed  rivals,  these  mounds, 
on  which  wooden  or  adobe  temples  once  stood,  would 
lie  in  ruins  like  the  mounds  marking  the  site  of  Baby- 
lon and  Nineveh.  In  process  of  time,  the  wild  In- 
dians would  utilize  them  as  sites  for  forts,  or  refuges 
from  the  floods. 

In  closing,  I  may  be  allowed  to  mention  that  about 
a  half-mile  this  side  of  Trading  Ford,  the  old  Trading 
Path  turns  off  from  the  present  road  towards  the 
south,  and  that  it  crosses  Crane  Creek  somewhere  in 
the  neighborhood  of  "Spring  Hill,"  running  perhaps  a 
mile  southeast  of  Salisbury,  and  so  on  to  the  south- 
ward, between  Salisbury  and  Dunn's  Mountain.  Along 
this  path,  before  civilized  men  dwelt  here,  caravans 
passed  to  and  fro,  visiting  the  Redmen  in  their  towns, 
and  selHng  them  guns,  powder,  shot,  hatchets,  or  toma- 


THE   ABORIGINES  47 

hawks,  kettles,  plates,  blankets,  cutlery,  brass  rings, 
and  other  trinkets.  Parallel  to  this  path  the  great 
North  Carolina  Railroad  now  rushes  on,  bearing  the 
commerce  of  the  nation.  And  it  was  along  this  same 
path  that  emigrants  from  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia 
began  to  pour  into  Old  Rowan  in  the  first  half  of  the 
last  century.  Of  these  we  will  speak  in  our  next 
chapter. 


CHAPTER  III 


THE  FIRST  EUROPEAN  SETTLERS 

The  earliest  settlements  in  North  Carolina  were  made 
on  the  coast,  along  Albemarle  and  Pamlico  Sounds, 
and  near  the  mouth  of  the  Cape  Fear  River.  In  a  map 
of  the  inhabited  parts  of  North  Carolina,  made  by  John 
Lawson,  the  surveyor-general,  in  1709,  we  see  the  out- 
lines of  the  settlements.  The  line  commences  at  the 
mouth  of  Currituck  Inlet,  and  sweeps  around  in  a  semi- 
circle, crossing  the  Roanoke  at  Aconeche  Island,  pass- 
ing by  the  head  of  Pamlico  Sound,  crossing  the  Neuse 
near  the  mouth  of  Contentnea  Creek,  and  so  on  east  of 
where  Fayetteville  now  stands,  to  the  Atlantic,  thirty 
miles  south  of  the  mouth  of  the  Cape  Fear.  The  pop- 
ulation was  then  less  than  seven  thousand  (Hawks, 
Vol.  I,  p.  89).  In  twenty  years  more,  about  three 
thousand  had  been  added  to  the  population,  and  there 
were  five  small  towns :  Bath,  Newbern,  Edenton,  Beau- 
fort, and  Brunswick.  Of  these,  Edenton  was  called 
the  metropolis. 

In  the  year  1729,  the  King  of  Great  Britain,  accord- 
ing to  act  of  Parliment,  purchased  seven-eighths  of  the 
territory  of  the  Carolinas  from  the  Lords  Proprietors, 
for  twenty-five  hundred  pounds  (£2500)  for  each 
eighth  part.  But  John,  Earl  of  Granville,  the  son  and 
heir  of  Sir  George  Carteret,  refused  to  part  with  his 


50  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

portion,  and  his  lands  were  laid  off  to  him,  extending 
from  latitude  thirty-five  degrees,  thirty-four  minutes 
to  the  Virginia  line,  and  westward  to  the  South  Sea,  or 
Pacific  Ocean.  It  is  within  the  limits  of  Earl  Gran- 
ville's lands  and  on  the  western  portion  of  them  that 
Rowan  County  was  situated. 

The  Royal  Governors  of  North  Carolina  were  as 
follows:  George  Burrington,  1731-34;  Nathaniel 
Rice,  1734 — a  few  months;  Gabriel  Johnston,  1734- 
52;  Nathaniel  Rice,  1752-53;  ^Matthew  Rowan,  1753- 
54.  During  the  terms  of  these  Governors  the  popula- 
tion rolled  upwards  and  westward,  county  after  county 
being  set  off  as  the  land  was  occupied.  Bladen  was  set 
off  from  New  Hanover  in  1734,  Anson  from  Bladen  in 
1749,  Rowan  from  Anson  in  1753,  and  Mecklenburg 
from  Anson  in  1762.  Of  course,  population  was  in 
advance  of  county  organizations,  and  there  was  a  suffi- 
cient number  of  settlers  in  the  territory  of  Rowan, 
previous  to  1753,  to  demand  a  separate  county  govern- 
ment. But  it  becomes  a  difficult  task  to  ascertain  when 
and  from  whence  came  the  first  white  settlers. 

In  his  Sketches  of  North  Carolina,  Colonel  Wheeler 
says:  "Rowan  was  early  settled  (about  1720),  by 
the  Protestants  from  ]\Ioravia,  fleeing  from  the  perse- 
cutions of  Ferdinand  II. ;  and  by  the  Scotch,  who, 
after  the  unsuccessful  attempts  of  Charles  Edward, 
grandson  of  James  II.,  to  ascend  the  English 
throne,  and  whose  fortunes  were  destroyed  on  the  fatal 
field  of  Culloden  (sixteenth  of  April,  1746),  had  fled 
to  this  country ;  and  by  the  Irish,  who  after  the  rebel- 
lion of  the  Earls  of  Tyrone   and  Tyrconnel,   in  the 


THE    FIRST    EUROPEAN    SETTLERS  51 

time  of  James  I.,  were  forced  to  leave  the 
country.  These,  or  their  ancestors,  previously  had 
come  from  Scotland,  and  hence  the  term  Scotch-Irish" 
(AMieeler,  Art.  Rowan  County).  It  would  be  difficult 
to  crowd  more  mistakes  into  one  short  paragraph  than 
are  found  in  this  brief  account  of  the  settlement  of 
Rowan.  First  of  all,  Ferdinand  II.,  Emperor  of 
Germany,  reigned  from  1618  to  1648,  more  than  one 
hundred  years  before  the  time  required,  and  the  Mora- 
vians, or  United  Brethren,  did  not  appear  in  Moravia 
until  1722,  in  England  in  1728,  in  New  York  and 
Georgia  in  1736,  and  in  North  Carolina  not  until  1753. 
Again,  very  few  of  the  Scotch  came  to  Rowan  directly, 
but  to  the  Cape  Fear  section,  and  not  there  in  numbers 
until  some  time  after  1746.  It  was  not  the  native  Irish, 
after  the  rebellion  of  Tyrone  and  Tyrconnel,  but 
the  descendants  of  the  Scotch  whom  James  I.  had 
placed  on  their  escheated  lands,  who  came  to  Rowan. 
They  remained  in  Ireland  for  more  than  one  hun- 
dred years,  enduring  many  trials  and  disabilities  dur- 
ing that  period,  and  then  in  the  early  part  of  the 
eighteenth  century  immigrated  to  New  Jersey  and 
Pennsylvania,  and  thence  to  North  Carolina. 

The  earliest  settlements  in  Rowan  of  which  we  have 
any  accurate  knowledge  were  made  about  1737.  Dr. 
Foote,  in  his  Sketches  of  North  Carolina,  states  that 
the  Scotch-Irish  began  their  settlements  in  Shenan- 
doah Valley  in  Virginia  in  1737,  and  in  North  Carolina 
soon  afterwards.  Some  scattered  families  followed  the 
Trading  Path  and  settled  in  chosen  spots  from  the 
Roanoke  to  the  Catawba.  As  the  Indians  were  friendly, 


52  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

and  the  caravans  of  the  traders  frequent,  it  would  be 
but  natural  that  immigrants  would  be  attracted  by  their 
glowing  descriptions  of  the  fertile  prairies  that  lay  be- 
tween the  Yadkin  and  the  Catawba — a  land  abounding 
in  game,  and  whose  streams  were  stocked  with  fish, 
and  its  flowery  meadows  affording  pasturage  for  their 
cattle.     (See  Foote,  p.   i88.) 

Fortunately  for  the  settlement  of  this  point,  the 
Clark  family,  who  have  resided  on  the  Cape  Fear  since 
about  1745,  have  preserved  memoranda  showing  that, 
as  early  as  the  year  1746,  a  family  or  a  company  of 
emigrants  went  west  of  the  Yadkin  to  join  some  other 
families  that  were  living  sequestered  in  that  fertile 
region  (Foote,  p.  189).  Thus  it  appears  that  there 
were  settlers,  families,  residing  here  previous  to  1746. 
They  would  scarcely  think  it  necessary  to  enter  lands 
in  a  region  where  all  was  open  to  them,  and  if  they  did, 
their  deeds  would  be  recorded  in  the  Court  of  Bladen 
or  New  Hanover,  of  which  Rowan  then  constituted  a 
part.  It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  there  was  once  a  set- 
tlement and  a  church  of  the  Scotch  in  South  Rowan, 
called  Crystal  Springs,  and  in  the  old  minutes  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  Crystal  Springs  and  Salisbury 
are  represented  as  asking  for  ministerial  supplies.  This 
church  was  about  ten  miles  nearly  south  of  Salisbury, 
near  the  residence  of  Dr.  Paul  Sifford,  and  in  its  old 
graveyard  lie  the  remains  of  the  ^IcPhersons,  the 
Alahans,  the  Longs,  and  others.  Since  1812,  this  church 
has  not  been  in  existence,  as  it  is  said  that  at  that  time 
the  members  were  transferred  to  Old  Bethphage,  about 
eight  or  ten  miles  west  of  Crystal  Springs. 


THE    FIRST    EUROPEAN    SETTLERS  53 

But  the  Scotch-Irish  were  probably  the  most  numer- 
ous and  the  leading  people  of  the  settlement.  The  old 
records  of  the  Court  here  show  the  names  of  many  of 
these  old  families,  some  of  them  now  extinct,  such  as 
the  Xesbits,  Allisons,  Brandons,  Luckeys,  Lockes, 
McCullochs,  Grahams,  Cowans,  McKenzies,  Barrs, 
Andrews,  Osbornes,  Sharpes,  Boones,  ]McLauchlins, 
Halls,  with  many  others  whose  names  are  as  familiar 
as  household  words. 

But  along  with  these  Scotch-Irish  immigrants,  and 
settling  side  by  side  with  them,  there  came  settlers  of 
another  nationality  to  whom  Rowan  is  no  less  indebted 
for  her  material  wealth  and  prosperity.  These  were  the 
Germans,  or  as  they  were  familiarly  called  the  "Penn- 
sylvania Dutch."  They  were  of  course  not  of  Dutch  or 
Holland  extraction,  but  Germans  from  the  Palatinate, 
and  from  Hessen  Cassel,  Hessen  Homburg,  Darm- 
stadt, and  the  general  region  of  the  upper  and  middle 
Rhine.  Prominent  among  these  for  its  history  and  the 
numbers  of  its  emigrants  is  the  Palatinate,  or  'Tfalz" 
as  it  is  called  in  the  maps  of  Germany.  This  country 
lies  on  the  western  banks  of  the  Rhine,  below  Stras- 
burg,  and  along  the  eastern  boundaries  of  France.  This 
beautiful  land  is  watered  by  numerous  small  streams, 
the  tributaries  of  the  Rhine,  and  is  divided  by  a  range 
of  mountains,  the  Haardts,  running  from  north  to 
south.  Manheim  and  Speyer  (Spires)  are  the  two 
principle  cities,  situated  on  the  Rhine,  while  Xeustadt, 
Anweiler,  Zweibrucken,  Leiningen.  are  among  its 
towns.  This  Province  was  the  theater  of  many 
bloody    and    atrocious    deeds    during    the    reign    of 


54  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN   COUNTY 

Louis  XIV.,  of  France,  a  time  when  such  great 
generals  as  the  Prince  of  Conde,  Marshal  Turenne, 
Prince  Eugene,  the  Duke  of  ^Marlborough,  and  Wil- 
liam, Prince  of  Orange,  won  glory  or  infamy  on  the 
bloody  field  of  battle.  It  was  in  the  Palatinate  that 
Turenne  sullied  his  glory  by  an  act  of  the  most  savage 
barbarity  in  laying  waste  the  country  with  fire  and 
sword,  reducing  two  cities  and  twenty-five  villages  to 
ashes,  and  leaving  the  innocent  inhabitants  to  perish  of 
cold  and  hunger,  while  the  unfortunate  Elector  looked 
helplessly  on  from  the  walls  of  his  palace  at  ^^lanheim. 
And  a  few  years  after,  Louis  again  invaded  the  Pal- 
atinate, and  laid  the  cities  of  Mentz,  Philipsburg, 
Spires,  and  forty  others,  with  numerous  villages,  in 
ashes.  Thus  this  little  principality,  whose  inhabitants 
by  their  industry  and  peacable  habits  had  made  it  the 
most  thriving  and  happy  state  in  Germany,  was  Hterally 
turned  into  a  desert.  Ravaged  by  fire  and  sword,  and 
trodden  down  under  the  iron  heel  of  despotism,  the 
wretched  inhabitants  were  forced  at  last  to  leave  their 
beautiful  country  and  seek  a  home  among  strangers. 
Their  first  place  of  refuge  was  the  Netherlands,  where 
a  liberal  and  Protestant  government  afforded  them  a 
safe  asylum. 

From  the  Netherlands  many  of  them  found  their 
way  into  England,  where  Queen  Anne  gave  them  a 
safe  refuge  from  their  enemies.  But  England  was 
itself  a  populous  country,  and  the  English  government 
determined  to  induce  as  many  of  the  Palatines  as  pos- 
sible to  cross  the  Atlantic  and  become  settlers  in  the 
American   Colonies.     In   that  broad   land  they   could 


THE    FIRST    EUROPEAN    SETTLERS  55 

find  comfortable  homes,  and  by  their  industry  they 
might  make  its  deserts  blossom  as  the  rose.  Some 
of  them  came  over  with  De  Graffenried  and  Mitchell 
and  found  homes  on  the  lower  waters  of  the  Neuse, 
where  a  New  "Berne"  would  remind  the  Swiss  portion 
of  the  colonists  of  the  old  Berne  they  had  left  behind 
them  among  the  Alps.  Others  found  homes  in  the 
State  of  New  York,  and  others  still  in  Charleston, 
S.  C,  and  along  the  banks  of  the  Congaree 
and  Saluda  Rivers.  Many  others  from  this  general 
section  of  Germany  settled  in  Lehigh,  Northampton, 
Berks,  and  Lancaster  Counties  in  Pennsylvania.  Find- 
ing this  country  thickly  settled  and  good  land  to  be 
secured  only  at  high  prices,  in  a  few  years  they  turned 
their  attention  southward.  Here  Earl  Granville^s 
lands — lately  set  off  to  him — were  offered  at  a  cheap 
rate,  and  the  climate  was  much  more  mild  than  in  the 
homes  they  had  chosen  in  Pennsylvania.  The  first 
arrival  of  Germans  in  Western  North  Carolina,  in  the 
bounds  of  Old  Rowan,  is  believed  to  have  taken  place 
about  1745,  though  it  was  five  years  later  that  the 
great  body  of  them  came.  The  stream  thus  started 
continued  to  flow  on  for  years,  many  of  them  arriving 
after  the  Revolutionary  war.  They  traveled  with  their 
household  goods  and  the  women  and  children  in  wag- 
ons, the  men  and  boys  walking  and  driving  their  cattle 
and  hogs  before  them.  They  came  side  by  side  with 
their  Scotch-Irish  neighbors,  sometimes  settling  in  the 
same  community  with  them,  and  at  other  times  oc- 
cupying alternate  belts  or  sections  of  country.  Thus- 
we   can    trace    a    German    stream    through    Guilford, 


56  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

Davidson,  Rowan,  and  Cabarrus  Counties,  and  just 
by  its  side  a  stream  of  Scotch-Irish.  But  as  years 
passed  away  these  streams,  Hke  the  currents  of  the 
Missouri  and  ^Mississippi  Rivers,  have  mingled  into 
one,  resulting  in  a  mixed  race  of  German-Scotch-Irish, 
perpetuating  the  virtues  and  perhaps  also  the  weak- 
nesses of  all  the  races.  Dr.  Bemheim,  in  his  interest- 
ing work  on  German  settlements  in  North  and  South 
Carolina,  has  given  a  Hst  of  names,  found  in  common 
use  in  Pennsylvania  and  in  North  Carolina,  such  as 
Propst,  Bostian,  Kline  (Cline),  Trexler,  Schlough, 
Seitz  (Sides),  Rheinhardt,  Biber  (Beaver),  Kohlman 
(Coleman),  Derr  (Dry),  Berger  (Barrier),  Behrin- 
ger  (Barringer).  To  this  list  may  be  added  other 
names  familiar  in  Rowan  County,  such  as  Bernhardt, 
Heilig,  Meisenheimer,  Beard,  I^Iull,  Rintelman  (Ren- 
dleman),  Layrle  (Lyerly),  Kuhn  (Coon),  Friese, 
Eisenhauser,  Yost,  Overcash,  Boger,  Suther,  Wine- 
coff,  Cress,  \\'alcher,  Harkey,  Savitz,  Henkel,  IMoser, 
Braun  (Brown),  and  many  others  familiar  to  all  our 
people.  The  German  settlers  have  generally  been  re- 
markable for  industry,  enonomy,  and  the  habit  of 
living  within  their  means  and  not  getting  into  debt. 

During  their  sojourn  here,  a  century  and  a  quarter, 
they  have  passed  through  the  ordeal  of  changing  their 
language.  As  the  laws  were  written  and  expounded 
in  English,  and  all  public  affairs  conducted  in  that 
language,  the  Germans  were  incapable  of  taking  part, 
in  most  cases,  in  public  affairs.  Hence,  letting  public 
affairs  alone,  and  attending  to  their  home  interests, 
they  surrounded  themselves  with  well-tilled  farms,  and 


THE    FIRST    EUROPEAN    SETTLERS  57 

adorned  their  premises  with  capacious  barns  and 
threshing  floors.  Who  has  not  seen  the  immense 
double  barns,  with  wide  double  doors,  to  admit  a  four- 
horse  wagon  with  its  towering  load  of  hay  or  straw  or 
wheat;  and  the  threshing  floor,  where  the  horses 
tramped  out  the  wheat,  and  the  "windmill"  blew  the 
chaflf  into  the  chaflfhouse  ?  And  who  has  forgotten  the 
long  stables  where  the  cows  were  yoked  to  the  troughs, 
each  one  knowing  her  place,  while  the  calves  were  tied 
to  a  trough  at  the  other  wall? 

But  the  ''Pennsylvania  Dutch"  has  almost  ceased  to 
be  heard  on  our  streets  where  once  its  quaint  tones  of 
mingled  German,  French,  and  English  were  so  famil- 
iar. The  dialect  is  gone,  but  the  accent  and  the 
idiom  still  linger  on  many  tongues,  and  the  traditions 
and  folklore  of  the  old  world  still  flow  in  a  deep  un- 
dercurrent in  many  families. 

Not  long  after  the  Scotch-Irish  and  Pennsylvania 
Germans  came  into  the  territory  of  Old  Rowan,  came 
another  people  that  have  added  much  to  the  wealth  of 
the  State.  I  mean  the  Moravians,  or  United  Brethren. 
These  people  purchased  a  tract  of  98,985  acres,  called 
the  "Wachovia  Tract,"  in  what  is  now  Forsyth 
County,  but  originally  Rowan.  This  was  in  1751,  but 
the  deed  for  the  tract  was  signed  in  1753,  and  in  the 
autumn  of  this  year  twelve  single  brethren  came  from 
Bethlehem,  Pa.,  and  began  the  settlement  of 
Bethabara.  Bethany  was  founded  in  1759,  and  Salem 
in  1766;  Frieburg  and  Friedland,  in  1769  and  1770. 
In  1804  the  well-known  Salem  Female  Academy  was 


58  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN  COUNTY 

founded,  at  which  many  of  the  fair  daughters  of  the 
South  have  been  educated. 

Along  with  these  settlers  from  Ireland  and  Germany 
came,  from  time  to  time,  others  of  English,  Welsh,  and 
Scotch  descent,  who  have  mingled  with  the  former  in 
working  out  the  destiny  of  Old  Rowan — the  mother  of 
counties. 

Although  Rowan  was  not  settled  by  Cavaliers  or 
Huguenots,  or  by  the  aristocracy  of  old-world  society, 
she  has  good  reason  to  be  proud  of  the  early  pioneers 
who  laid  here  the  foundations  of  their  homes.  They 
were  men  and  women  who  had  suffered  for  conscience* 
sake,  or  fled  from  despotism  to  seek  liberty  and  hap- 
piness unrestrained  by  the  shackles  of  a  womout  civ- 
ilization. 


CHAPTER  IV 


ORGANIZATION,    BOUNDARY,    ETC. 

The  early  settlers  of  Rowan  were  peaceable,  indus- 
trious, and  law-abiding  men,  who  had  come  to  this 
land  to  make  homes  for  themselves  and  their  children. 
When  therefore  their  numbers  had  increased  suffi- 
ciently to  justify  the  measure,  steps  were  taken  for 
the  formation  of  a  county  government,  and  the  ap- 
pointment of  county  officers  and  courts  of  justice. 
Accordingly,  at  the  sessions  of  the  General  Assembly 
of  the  Province  of  North  Carolina  begun  and  held  at 
Newbern,  ]\Iarch  27,  1753,  an  Act  was  passed  estab- 
lishing the  County  of  Rowan.  Gov.  Gabriel  Johnston, 
after  a  long  and  prosperous  term  of  office,  had 
died  in  August,  1752,  and  the  duties  of  the  office  de- 
volved upon  Nathaniel  Rice,  first  Counselor  of  the 
King's  Commission.  But  President  Rice  lived  only 
until  January,  1753,  and  at  his  death  the  Hon.  Matthew 
Rowan,  the  next  Counselor  in  order,  qualified  as 
President,  in  Wilmington,  on  the  first  of  February, 
1753.  As  he  was  now  President  of  the  Council,  and 
acting  governor,  the  new  county  formed  during  his 
administration  was  called  after  his  name.  The  Act  of 
the  Assembly  establishing  the  county  is,  in  part,  as 
follows:  "That  Anson  County  be  divided  by  a  line, 
to  begin  where   (the)   Anson  line  was  to  cross  Earl 


60  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

Granville's  (line),  and  from  thence  in  a  direct  line 
north  to  the  Virginia  line,  and  that  the  said  county  be 
bounded  on  the  north  by  the  Virginia  line,  and  to  the 
south  by  the  southernmost  line  of  Earl  Granville's: 
And  that  the  upper  part  of  said  county  so  divided  be 
erected  into  a  County  and  Parish  by  the  name  of 
Rowan  County  and  St.  Luke's  Parish,  and  that  all  the 
inhabitants  to  the  westward  of  said  line,  and  included 
within  the  before-mentioned  boundaries  shall  belong 
and  appertain  to  Rowan  County"  (Iredell's  Laws  of 
North  CaroHna,  Ed.  1791,  p.  154.)  To  get  an  idea 
of  these  extensive  boundaries,  we  have  only  to  remem- 
ber that,  in  1749,  Anson  was  cut  off  from  Bladen  by 
a  line  starting  where  the  westernmost  branch  of  Little 
Pee  Dee  enters  South  Carolina,  thence  up  to  the  head- 
waters of  Drowning  Creek,  and  so  on  by  a  line  equi- 
distant from  Great  Pee  Dee  and  Saxapahaw.  All  west 
of  this  somewhat  indeterminate  line  was  Anson  County. 
The  design  in  1753  was  to  include  in  Rowan  all  that 
part  of  Anson  which  was  comprised  in  Earl  Gran- 
ville's lands,  that  is,  all  north  of  latitude  thirty-five 
degrees,  thirty-four  minutes  as  far  as  to  the  Mrginia 
line.  The  ''point"  where  Anson  line  was  to  cut  Earl 
Granville's  line,  as  well  as  can  be  determined  by  the 
writer,  must  have  been  somewhere  near  the  south- 
eastern corner  of  the  present  County  of  Randolph,  not 
far  from  the  point  where  Deep  River  passes  from  Ran- 
dolph into  Moore  County.  The  eastern  line  of  Rowan, 
if  this  be  correct,  would  run  due  north  from  that  point, 
along  the  eastern  boundaries  of  the  present  Randolph, 
Guilford,   and   Rockingham   Counties.     The   southern 


ORGANIZATION,    BOUNDARY,    ETC.  6 1 

boundary,  beginning  at  the  southeast  corner  of  Ran- 
dolph, ran  due  west  along  Earl  Granville's  south  line, 
on  the  south  side  of  Randolph,  Davidson,  Rowan,  and 
Iredell,  as  they  now  lie  (latitude  thirty-five  degrees, 
thrity-four  minutes),  to  the  Catawba  River,  a  short 
distance  above  Beattie's  Ford ;  thence  due  west,  cutting 
into  Lincoln  County,  and  running  a  few  miles  north  of 
Lincolnton,  through  Cleveland  and  Rutherford, 
through  Hickory  Nut  Gap,  and  on  through  Buncombe, 
Haywood,  Jackson,  Macon,  and  Cherokee,  and  on  to 
the  westward  indefinitely.  Old  Rowan  included  in  its 
ample  domain  the  territory  occupied  today  by  thirty 
counties  and  parts  of  counties  in  North  Carolina,  be- 
sides the  indefinite  and  unexplored  regions  of  the 
west,  as  far  as  the  South  Seas,  embracing  the  western 
section  of  Granville's  vast  inheritance.  It  is  true,  in- 
deed, that  the  region  beyond  the  mountains  in  the 
early  days  was  unknown,  and  in  the  farther  West  was 
the  French  territory  of  Louisiana,  that  practically  cut 
down  these  gigantic  proportions.  But  theoretically, 
and  according  to  the  Charter,  such  was  its  vast  terri- 
tory. 

It  may  not  be  amiss  to  recall  to  the  mind  of  the 
student  of  North  Carolina  history  that  Charles  II.,  of 
England,  in  the  fifteenth  year  of  his  reign,  granted  to 
the  Earl  of  Clarendon,  the  Duke  of  Albemarle,  the  Earl 
of  Craven,  Lord  Berkeley,  Lord  Ashley,  Sir  George 
Carteret,  and  Sir  John  Colleton,  the  whole  territory 
of  America  lying  between  latitude  thirty-one  degrees, 
thirty-six  minutes  and  thirty-six  degrees,  thirty-one 
minutes  north,  and  extending  from  the  Atlantic  Ocean 


62  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN   COUNTY 

to  the  South  Seas,  or  Pacific  Ocean.  After  making 
the  experiment  of  a  Proprietary  government  for  more 
than  a  half-century,  under  the  famous  constitution  of 
Locke  and  Shaftesbury,  and  otherwise,  seven  of  these 
Lords  Proprietors  surrendered  their  interest  in  the 
Carolinas  to  the  Crown,  in  the  third  year  of  George 
IL  (1729),  for  the  sum  of  twenty-five  hundred  pounds 
(£2500)  each,  as  stated  in  a  previous  chapter.  But  John, 
Earl  of  Granville,  Lord  Cartaret,  and  Baron  of 
Hawnes,  as  he  is  styled,  the  son  and  heir  of  Sir 
George  Carteret,  declined  to  surrender  his  eighth  part 
of  the  land,  preferring  to  dispose  of  it  to  the  settlers 
by  means  of  special  agents.  In  1743,  his  eighth  part 
was  set  ofif  to  him,  and  was  situated  between  latitude 
thirty-five  degrees,  thirty-four  minutes  and  the  Vir- 
ginia line.  His  southern  line  began  on  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  near  Cape  Hatteras,  crossed  Pamlico  Sound, 
passed  on  west  not  far  from  \\'ashington,  across  the 
Conuties  of  Beaufort,  Pitt,  Greene,  \\'ayne,  and  John- 
ston, on  the  north  side  of  Moore,  and  so  on  westward 
along  the  line  indicated  as  the  south  line  of  Rowan 
County.  Granville  does  not  appear  to  have  exercised 
any  authority  over  the  people  in  his  lands,  nor  any  con- 
trol in  the  enactment  or  execution  of  the  laws.  He 
was  simply  a  mighty  landowner,  with  a  vast  body  of 
desirable  land  to  sell  to  the  best  advantage.  After 
1743  all  grants  and  sales  of  lands  were  made  in  his 
name.  The  curious  inquirer  may  look  into  the  office 
of  our  Register  of  Deeds,  in  the  Courthouse  in  Salis- 
bury, and  see  volumes  upon  volumes  of  old  land  deeds, 
reciting  over  and  over  again  the  titles  and  dignities  of 


ORGANIZATION,    BOUNDARY,    ETC.  63 

Earl  Granville,  conveying  lands  to  the  Allisons,  An- 
drews, Brandons,  Grahams,  Lockes,  Nesbits,  etc.,  and 
signed  by  his  Lordship's  attorneys  and  agents,  Fran- 
cis Corbin  and  James  Innes,  or  by  sub-agents  William 
Churton  and  Richard  Vigers. 

It  appears  that  the  General  Assembly  of  North  Car- 
olina, at  this  early  day,  began  to  exercise  more  power 
than  was  entirely  agreeable  to  the  loyal  government  in 
England,  and  by  the  multiplication  of  counties  the 
assembly  was  increased  in  numbers  too  rapidly.  Hence 
the  policy  of  repression  was  early  adopted.  In  1754, 
the  year  after  the  erection  of  Rowan  County,  King 
George  II.,  in  privy  council,  revoked  the  acts  of  1753, 
establishing  Rowan,  Cumberland,  and  Orange  Coun- 
ties. But  upon  a  more  thorough  understanding  of  the 
subject,  he  was  pleased  the  next  year  to  allow  the  said 
counties  to  be  re-established,  and  the  Assembly  at  its 
sessions  in  1756  did  re-establish  these  counties,  and 
validated  all  deeds  and  conveyances  that  had  been  made 
during  the  period  of  the  royal  revocation.  It  appears 
that  the  disapprobation  of  the  King  made  no  break  in 
the  Courts  of  Rowan  County,  for  the  record  shows 
that  they  went  on  precisely  as  they  would  have  gone 
on  had  the  King  fully  approved.  So  far  away  were 
they  from  the  Court  of  England,  and  so  full  of  the 
spirit  of  independence,  that  they  were  ready  to  practice, 
if  not  assert,  the  inherent  right  of  self-government. 

The  county  having  been  established  in  March,  1753, 
in  June  of  the  same  year  the  Court  of  Pleas  and  Quar- 
ter Sessions  met  somewhere  in  the  county  and  pro- 
ceeded to  their  work.     But  where  the  first  Court  was 


64  HISTORY  OF  ROWAX   COUNTY 

held,  the  writer  has  not  been  able  to  determine.  There 
are  several  vague  traditions  and  recollections  that 
point  to  different  times  and  places ;  and  with  the  hope 
that  someone  will  be  able  to  probe  this  matter  to  the 
bottom,  these  traditions  are  given. 

1.  There  is  a  vague  impression  floating  in  certain 
legal  circles  here,  that  an  old  ''Docket"  has  been  seen 
in  our  courthouse,  dating  back  a  number  of  years  be- 
fore the  establishment  of  the  county.  If  this  be  so,  there 
must  have  been  some  kind  of  itinerant  or  circuit 
Court  held  at  occasional  times  on  the  frontiers.  But 
of  this  I  have  seen  no  historical  or  documentary  proof 
whatsoever. 

2.  There  is  a  tradition  that  the  first  Courts  were 
held  in  the  Jersey  Settlement,  not  far  from  Trading 
Ford,  on  a  place  once  owned  by  Thales  ]\IcDonald,  now 
the  property  of  ^Ir.  Hayden;  and  the  venerable  oaks 
that  shaded  the  premises  were  pointed  out  some  twen- 
ty-five years  ago,  and  may  be  still  standing.  This  is 
rendered  somewhat  probable  from  the  fact  that  the  Jer- 
sey lands  were  early  occupied,  and  were  probably  more 
thickly  settled  at  that  period  than  the  region  between 
the  Yadkin  and  the  Catawba.  In  connection  with  this 
location  there  is  another  tradition  that  preliminary 
steps  were  once  taken  to  lay  out  a  town  in  the  vicinity 
of  Trading  Ford.  \A'ith  such  a  beautiful  stream,  easily 
capable  of  being  made  navigable  from  the  Narrows 
far  up  into  the  mountains,  the  wonder  is  that  a  town 
has  not  long  since  sprung  up  in  that  delightful  region. 

Another  tradition,  that  has  been  constant  in  one 
family,  is  that  the  first  Courts  of  Rowan  were  held  in 


ORGANIZATION,    BOUNDARY,    ETC.  65 

a  building  that  stood  on  the  premises  now  owned  by 
Miss  McLaughHn,  about  thirteen  miles  west  of  Salis- 
bury. This  place  is  midway  between  Thyatira  and 
Back  Creek  churches,  and  not  far  from  Sill's  Creek. 
An  old  door  is  still  preserved  there,  which  the  family 
say  has  always  been  known  to  have  belonged  to  the 
building  in  which  the  Court  was  held. 

It  is  possible  that  there  is  substantial  truth  in  all 
these  traditions.  In  those  early  days  the  General  As- 
sembly of  the  Province  was  migratory,  being  held  at 
Edenton,  Newbern,  Wilmington,  and  Hillsboro,  and  it 
is  not  impossible  that  one  or  two  of  the  first  Courts  of 
Pleas  and  Quarter  Sessions  of  Rowan  were  held  out- 
side of  Salisbury,  before  a  courthouse  was  erected. 
The  early  records  contain  no  mention  of  the  place 
where  the  Courts  were  held,  and  the  first  leaf  is 
missing. 


CHAPTER  V 


THE  FIRST  COURT 

As  stated  on  a  former  page,  it  is  not  certainly  known 
where  the  first  Court  was  held.  But  from  the  records 
in  the  office  of  the  Superior  Court  Clerk,  in  SaHsbury, 
it  appears  probable  that  it  was  held  in  June,  1753,  only 
a  few  months  after  the  county  was  established.  The 
names  of  the  justices  who  presided  at  the  Courts  the 
first  year  were  \\'alter  Carruth,  Thomas  Lovelatty, 
James  Carter,  John  Brandon,  Alexander  Cathey, 
Squire  Boone,  Thomas  Cook,  Thomas  Potts,  George 
Smith,  Andrew  Allison,  John  Hanby,  Alexander  Os- 
borne, James  Tate,  and  John  Brevard.  Wq  know,  or 
have  some  reasons  for  conjecturing,  the  neighborhoods 
from  which  several  of  these  magistrates  came.  Walter 
Carruth  owned  lands,  and  probably  resided,  on  the 
east  side  of  Coddle  Creek,  adjoining  the  McKnights, 
in  the  Prospect  neighborhood.  James  Carter  owned 
the  lands  in  the  southeast  quarter  of  Salisbury,  on  both 
sides  of  Water  Street,  and  on  towards  Crane  Creek, 
now  called  Town  Creek,  and  probably  lived  in  the  pres- 
ent corporate  limits  of  the  town.  John  Brandon  lived 
six  miles  south  of  Salisbury,  near  the  Concord  Road, 
on  the  plantation  now  owned  by  Charles  H.  ]\IcKenzie, 
Esq.    Alexander  Cathey  lived  on  Cathey's  Creek,  near 


68  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

Thyatira  Church,  and  was  the  ancestor  of  the  late 
Alexander  Long,  AI.  D.,  of  Salisbury.  Squire  Boone 
lived  on  the  Yadkin,  at  Alleman's  or  Boone's  Ford,  and 
was  the  father  of  the  great  hunter  and  pioneer,  Daniel 
Boone,  of  Kentucky.  At  this  place  young  Daniel  spent 
the  days  of  his  boyhood,  and  no  doubt  often  hunted 
over  the  hills  and  through  the  thickets  of  the  Yadkin. 
Thomas  Potts  probably  lived  in  the  Jersey  Settlement, 
where  Potts'  Creek,  running  into  the  Yadkin  River 
just  below  the  site  of  the  Indian  Town  of  Sapona, 
perpetuates  his  name.  George  Smith  was  probably 
from  the  same  neighborhood,  where  a  prominent 
family  of  that  name  still  resides.  Andrew  Allison 
owned  large  tracts  of  land  on  Fourth  Creek,  a  few 
miles  from  Statesville,  where  a  large  and  influential 
family  of  that  name  may  still  be  found.  Alexander 
Osborne  lived  on  the  headwaters  of  Rocky  River, 
about  two  miles  north  of  Davidson  College.  He  was 
a  leading  man  in  the  community,  a  colonel,  the  father 
of  Adlai  Osborne,  and  the  ancestor  of  the  late  eloquent 
and  popular  Judge  James  W.  Osborne,  of  IMecklen- 
burg.  John  Brevard  was  probably  from  the  same 
neighborhood,  a  little  farther  west,  and  not  far  from 
Beattie's  Ford,  on  the  Catawba.  At  least  this  was  the 
neighborhood  of  the  Brevards,  one  of  whom.  Dr. 
Ephraim  Brevard,  is  reputed  to  be  the  composer  of  the 
celebrated  Mecklenburg  Declaration  of  Independence. 
Of  Lovelatty,  Cook,  Hanby,  and  Tate  the  writer  has 
no  knowledge,  though  doubtless  some  of  their  de- 
scendants may  be  still  residing  among  us.  There  is  a 
Ford  on  the   Catawba,   and   a  postoffice  in   Caldwell 


Oyi^W^ 


Oiry^LJL. 


This  picture  of  the  famous  frontiersman  appears  on  frontispiece  to  Colonel  Roose- 
velt's "Winning  of  the  West,"  Vol.  2.  The  facsimile  signature  is  taken  from  a  mar- 
riage certificate  in  the  office  of  the  Clerk  of  the  Superior  Court  of  Rowan  County, 
North    Carolina. 


THE  FIRST   COURT  69 

County  called  "Lovelady,"  perhaps  a  remembrance  of 
Justice  Lovelatty,  of  the  Rowan  County  Court. 

A  good  part  of  the  time  of  the  first  Court  was  taken 
up  in  registering  the  marks  and  brands  which  the  citi- 
zens had  invented  to  distinguish  their  cattle  and  other 
livestock;  and  the  changes  are  rung  on  ''crops/'  "half- 
crops/'  ''slits",  and  "swallow-forks,"  in  the  "off"  and 
"near"  ear,  and  other  quaint  devices  for  marking.  The 
cattle  that  were  to  be  identified  by  the  marks  and 
brands  registered  in  the  Rowan  Court,  ranged  over  the 
meadows  and  prairies  of  the  Yadkin,  the  Catawba,  the 
Deep,  the  Saxapahaw,  and  the  Dan  Rivers.  Consta- 
bles were  also  appointed  whose  beats  lay  as  much  as 
a  hundred  miles  from  the  seat  of  justice.  These  old 
"records"  of  the  Rowan  Court  of  Pleas  and  Quarter 
Sessions,  for  1753-54-55-56,  are  full  of  interest  to  any- 
one who  will  take  the  trouble  to  decipher  them.  For 
instance,  here  is  a  list  of  constables  and  their  beats  for 
1753.  Preston  Goforth  for  the  South  Fork  of  the 
Catawba.  (This  was  for  the  region  from  Hickory  to 
Lincoln.)  John  McGuire,  south  side  of  the  Yadkin. 
John  Attaway  (  ?)  for  Dan  River.  John  Robinson  for 
south  side  of  Yadkin,  "from  the  mouth  of  Grant's 
Creek  to  the  ford  of  the  same;  thence  across  to  the 
Trading  Path ;  thence  along  said  Path  as  far  as  Cold- 
water;  thence  with  his  Lordship's  line."  This  shows 
that  the  Trading  Path  ran  to  the  point  where  Cold- 
water  Creek  runs  from  Rowan  into  Cabarrus.  "John 
Nesbit  had  his  beat  from  James  Cathey's  Creek  to  the 
Western  Path,  as  far  as  the  fork  of  said  Path.  James 
Howard  from  Cathey's  Creek  to  Third  Creek,  and  as 


70  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

far  as  the  Division  Ridge  between  the  two  settlements. 
Benjamin  W'inslow,  as  far  as  the  Catawba  River,  and 
along  the  King's  line  and  Lamb's  Mill,  and  down  as 
far  as  William  McKnight's.  John  Doller  on  Abbott's 
Creek,  as  far  as  the  \\'estern  Path.  David  Stewart  on 
the  north  side  of  Yadkin,  from  ]\Iuddy  Creek  and  up- 
ward. William  Fisher  for  the  district  included  in  the 
Forks  of  Yadkin.  James  Watkins  from  the  Orange  line 
as  far  as  Beaver  Island  Creek,  on  Dan  River.  James 
Hampton  from  Beaver  Island  Creek  and  upwards" 
(i.  e.,  higher  up  the  Dan).  These  names  of  men  and 
localities  show  the  extent  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Rowan  Court,  stretching  from  the  Orange  line  and  Dan 
River  to  the  King's  line,  and  as  far  west  as  the  south 
fork  of  the  Catawba,  northwest  of  Lincolnton.  The 
following  were  the  officers  of  the  county,  viz. : 

Richard  Hilliar,  Deputy  Attorney-General ;  John 
Dunn,  Court  Clerk;  James  Carter,  Esq.,  County 
Register;  John  Whitsett,  County  Treasurer;  Francis 
Corbin,  Esq.,  Colonel  of  Rowan  Regiment  of  Foot; 
Scotton  Davis,  Captain  in  Corbin's  Regiment. 

The  following  persons  are  named  as  composing  the 
Grand  and  Petit  Juries  of  the  first  Court,  viz. :  Henry 
Hughey,  John  AlcCulloch,  James  Hill,  John  Burnett, 
Samuel  Bryant,  John  McDowell,  James  Lambath, 
Henry  Dowland,  ]\Iorgan  Bryan,  \\'illiam  Sherrill, 
William  Morrison,  William  Linvil. 

Samuel  Baker  asked  this  Court  (1753)  to  declare 
his  mill  on  Davidson's  Creek  (near  Center  Church)  a 
public  mill,  and  his  request  was  granted.  John  Baker 
proved  before  this  Court  that  his  ear  had  been  bitten 


~  /^. 


?-'^ 


THE   FIRST  COURT  7I 

off  in  an  affay  (not  cropped  off  for  larceny),  and  ob- 
tained a  Court  certificate  to  that  effect. 

In  those  days  innkeepers  were  not  allowed  to  charge 
at  their  own  discretion  for  the  drinks  and  other  enter- 
tainments which  they  furnished  to  their  patrons,  but 
the  Court  took  the  matter  in  hand  and  made  a  schedule 
of  prices.  In  1755,  after  fixing  the  prices  for  wine, 
whiskey,  beer,  etc.,  they  decided  that  the  keepers  of 
ordinaries,  inns,  or  taverns,  should  charge  as 
follows : 

For  dinner  of  roast  or  boiled  flesh,  one  shilling. 

For  supper  and  breakfast,  each,  six  pence. 

For  lodging  over  night,  good  bed,  two  pence. 

For  stabling  (24  hours),  with  good  hay  or  fodder, 
six  pence. 

For  pasturage,  first  twenty-four  hours,  four  pence, 
every  twenty-four  hours  after,  two  pence. 

For  Indian  corn  or  other  grain,  per  quart,  two  pence. 

This  was  to  be  paid  in  Proclamation  money,  which 
was  about  on  a  par  with  Confederate  the  second  or 
third  year  of  the  late  war. 

Salisbury  was  well  supplied  with  licensed  ordinaries, 
or  inns,  in  those  days.  The  licensed  houses  were  as 
follows:  In  1755,  John  Ryle's  ordinary  was  licensed. 
In  1756,  John  Lewis  Beard,  Peter  Arrand,  Jacob 
Franck,  Archibald  Craige,  James  Bower,  and  Thomas 
Bashford  and  Robert  Gillespie  received  licenses.  Jacob 
Franck  occupied  the  lot  where  the  late  Dr.  Alexander 
Long  resided,  and  Bashford  and  Gillespie  occupied  the 
corner  next  to  the  present  courthouse,  i.  e.,  corner  of 
Corbin  and  Council  Streets.     Robert  Gillespie  was  the 


^2  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

first  husband  of  the  celebrated  ]\Irs.  EHzabeth  Steele, 
of  SaHsbury,  and  the  father  of  the  wife  of  the  Rev. 
Samuel  E.  McCorkle,  D.  D.  A  few  years  after  this, 
Paul  Barringer,  Esq.,  of  Mecklenburg  (Cabarrus), 
bought  the  lot  on  the  east  corner  of  Corbin  and  Innes 
Streets,  ninety-nine  feet  down  Corbin  and  one  hundred 
and  ninety-eight  feet  down  Innes,  from  a  man  who  is 
described  as  an  ''ordinary  keeper."  From  this  it  ap- 
pears probable  that  the  corner  now  occupied  by  Kluttz' 
drugstore  was  occupied  as  an  ordinary  at  an  early 
day,  as  we  know  that  it  was  at  a  later  day,  when  Wil- 
liam Temple  Coles  kept  an  inn  there,  where  John 
Dunn,  Esq.,  died  in  the  winter  of  1782-83. 

We  may  remark  in  passing  that  John  Dunn  and  \\'il- 
liam  Monat  were  appointed  attorneys  by  Governor 
Dobbs,  and  presented  their  Commissions  to  the  Rowan 
Court  in  1755.  Of  WiUiam  Monat  little  or  nothing 
appears  in  the  records  of  Rowan  County;  but  for 
thirty  years  John  Dunn  occupied  a  prominent  place  in 
the  public  affairs  of  Rowan  County,  both  before  and 
after  the  W^ar  of  the  Revolution.  He  deser\xd  well  of 
his  country,  and  his  name  is  embalmed  in  the  hearts  of 
a  large  circle  of  honored  descendants,  and  his  memory 
is  perpetuated  in  the  name  of  Dunn's  Mountain,  in 
sight  of  the  Public  Square  of  Salisbury,  at  the  foot  of 
which  his  remains  lie  interred.  This  name  v/ill  often 
recur  in  the  course  of  these  sketches. 

At  the  June  term  of  1753,  the  Court  proceeded  to 
select  a  place  for  the  erection  of  a  courthouse,  pillory, 
stocks,  and  gaol.  The  action  of  the  Court  is  substan- 
tially as  follows :     ''The  courthouse,  gaol,  and  stocks 


THE   FIRST  COURT  73 

shall  be  located  where  the  'Irish  Settlement'  forks, 
one  fork  leading  to  John  Brandon's,  Esq.,  and  the  other 
fork  along  the  old  wagon  road  over  Grant's  Creek, 
called  Sill's  Path,  and  near  the  most  convenient  spring." 
John  Brandon,  as  stated  before,  lived  six  miles  south 
of  Salisbury,  on  the  Concord  Road,  and  ''Sill's  Path" 
was  probably  the  Beattie's  Ford  Road,  crossing  Sill's 
Creek  about  seventeen  miles  west  of  Salisbury.  The 
most  "convenient  spring"  is  thought  to  be  a  spring  in 
the  garden  of  the  late  Dr.  Alexander  Long,  where 
Jacob  Franck's  ordinary  and  still-house  were  after- 
wards established,  the  lot  afterwards  owned  by 
Matthew  Troy,  the  father-in-law  of  the  late  Maxwell 
Chambers.  The  exact  site  of  the  courthouse  was  the 
center  of  our  present  Public  Square,  at  the  intersection 
of  Corbin  and  Innes  Streets,  where  the  great  town  well 
now  is.  Tradition  says  that  this  spot — originally  con- 
siderably higher  than  it  now  is — was  a  famous  "deer- 
stand,"  where  the  rifleman  stood,  and  with  unerring 
aim  brought  down  the  fleet-footed  doe  or  antlered 
stag,  as  he  fled  before  the  music-making  pack  of 
hounds. 

The  Court  directed  that  the  courthouse  should  be 
of  frame  work,  weather-boarded,  thirty  feet  long  and 
twenty  feet  wide,  a  story  and  a  half  high,  with  two 
floors,  the  lower  one  raised  two  feet  above  the  ground. 
It  w^as  to  be  provided  with  an  oval  bar,  and  a  bench 
raised  three  feet  above  the  floor,  with  a  table  and  seat 
for  the  Clerk,  and  "cases"  for  the  attorneys.  There 
was  to  be  a  good  window  behind  the  bench,  with  glass 
in  it,  and  a  window  near  the  middle  of  each  side,  and  a 


74  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

door  in  the  end  opposite  the  bench.  This  simple  struc- 
ture of  wood,  with  one  door  and  three  windows,  ap- 
pears to  us,  after  the  lapse  of  a  century  and  a  quarter, 
to  have  been  an  insignificant  affair.  But  doubtless  it 
compared  favorably  with  the  finest  structures  to  be 
found  in  the  wilderness,  only  about  ten  years  after  the 
first  settlers  arrived,  and  it  accorded  well  with  the  tem- 
per and  the  habits  of  those  earnest  and  honest  Justices 
who  sat  upon  the  "bench,"  and  arraigned  evildoers  at 
their  bar.  No  complicated  suits,  involving  nice  points 
of  law,  often  came  before  them  for  adjudication,  but 
rather  affrays,  trespass,  and  larcenies,  with  now  and 
then  a  homicide,  would  make  up  the  docket.  Suits 
would  not  be  apt  to  linger  long.  They  did  not  erect  a 
very  large  or  very  strong  jail,  for  the  culprit  was  apt 
to  find  himself  speedily  in  the  pillory  or  stocks,  or  at 
the  whipping-post.  I  presume  that  few  offenders 
escaped  upon  legal  technicalities,  or  on  the  plea  of  in- 
sanity, for  the  administrators  of  the  law  were  more 
likely  to  consult  the  dictates  of  primitive  justice  than 
the  niceties  of  any  written  code  or  precedent. 


CHAPTER  VI 


THE    COURTHOUSE    BUILT 

The  contract  for  building  the  courthouse  was  taken 
by  John  W^hitsett,  the  County  Treasurer,  but  for  reas- 
ons not  explained  it  was  not  finished  until  1756,  at 
which  time  the  Court  met  in  the  building  for  the  first 
time.  Before  this  time  the  Court  probably  met  in 
private  houses,  or  in  the  public  room  of  some  con- 
venient ordinary.  At  the  second  term  of  the  Court, 
October,  1753,  the  Justices  adjourned  once  to  the  house 
of  James  Alexander,  and  at  another  time  afterwards 
to  Peter  Arrand's  (Earnhardt?)  ordinary.  James 
Alexander  seems  to  have  been  a  resident  of  Salisbury, 
where  he  died  in  1754.  We  conclude  from  this  fact 
that  the  second  term  of  the  Court  was  held  in  Salis- 
bury. And  since  the  common  gaol,  pillory,  and  stocks 
were  already  up  and  in  use  in  1754,  we  have  con- 
clusive evidence  that  the  Courts  from  and  after  that 
date  were  held  near  these  public  buildings.  Tradi- 
tion states  that  the  old  gaol  building  was  located  at  or 
near  the  site  of  the  present  old  gaol  building,  now 
standing  at  the  northwest  corner  of  Corbin  and  Lib- 
erty Streets.  Arrangements  were  early  made  to  se- 
cure suitable  lands  for  the 


76  history  of  rowax  county 

Township  of  Salisbury 

At  the  Court  in  1753,  Edward  Hughes,  Esq.,  was 
appointed  trustee  for  Rowan  County,  and  directed  to 
"enter"  forty  acres  of  land,  at  the  place  selected  for 
the  "County  Seat,"  and  to  see  that  a  title  was  secured 
from  Earl  Granville's  agents.  At  the  same  time,  John 
Dunn,  Esq.,  and  John  \\'hitsett,  the  Treasurer,  were 
directed  to  see  that  the  land  was  laid  off  in  a  manner 
suitable  for  the  purpose  intended.  It  appears  that  Mr. 
Hughes  did  not  succeed  in  securing  immediately  the 
forty  acres  required  by  the  Court,  though  some  of  the 
public  buildings  were  at  once  erected.  The  deed  for 
the  Township  lands  is  dated  Februars^  11,  1755.  At 
that  date  AMlliam  Churton  and  Richard  \'igers,  agents 
for  Earl  Granville,  having  received  a  grant  from 
Francis  Corbin,  Granville's  attorney — conveyed  by 
deed  six  hundred  and  thirty- fire  (635)  acres  of  land 
for  "Salisbury  Township,"  to  James  Carter,  Esq.,  and 
Hugh  Foster,  farmer,  trustees — including  the  land 
upon  which  the  public  buildings  had  been  erected. 
The  deed  for  the  land  calls  for  the  following  distances, 
viz. : 

"Beginning  at  a  point  near  the  'Public  Square' — 
James  Carter's  corner,  and  running  due  east  with 
James  Carter's  Hne,  66  chains;  thence  north  37^ 
chains;  thence  west  I03>4  chains;  thence  east  37V2 
chains,  crossing  Crane  Creek  three  times ;  thence  north, 
66  chains,  crossing  Crane  Creek,  to  the  beginning." 
The  Township  lands,  the  streets,  and  the  streams  are 
pretty  fairly  represented  in  the  following  diagram. 


.tvlDERSONJN  btMML 
lO  F  H  E  N  D  E  R  S  0  N  A  N  d'  C  0  M  PA  1^^ 
*pESPATCHED  DANIEL;  BOON: 
iIjOHN  FINDLAY  JOHNSTUAR 
3I0SEPH  HOLDEN  JAMES  WOONE 


•4F  W!l  rsFRNES 


LHECT  _..,,. - 
• 'ELLJiX 


THE    COURTHOUSE    BUILT 


11 


*'The  point  near  the  public  square,  James  Carter's 
Corner,"  appears  from  an  old  map  of  the  town,  drawn 
about  fifty  years  ago,  and  now  in  the  possession  of 
Miss    C.    Beard,    to    have    been    in    the    middle    of 


Corbin  or  Alain  Street,  in  front  of  the  present  store  of 
R.  J.  Holmes. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  above  diagram  that  several 
small  streams  took  their  rise  in  the  Township  lands, 


yS  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

no  doubt  each  of  them  much  more  bold  than  now,  and 
flowing  with  pure  and  sweet  water.  As  the  Indians 
had  for  several  years  given  place  to  the  white  settlers, 
and  the  practice  of  burning  off  the  country  employed 
by  the  Indians  for  the  purpose  of  securing  open  hunt- 
ing grounds  having  been  suspended,  the  ground  began 
to  be  covered  by  a  beautiful  young  forest  growth. 
Under  the  shelter  of  these  young  trees,  and  with  the 
ground  covered  with  luxuriant  herbage,  the  streams 
were  fuller  and  purer  than  in  modern  days.  There  is 
reported  to  have  been  a  fine  spring  of  water  rising 
near  the  eastern  corner  of  the  Episcopal  Church  yard, 
with  a  stream  flowing  between  the  site  of  the  present 
courthouse  and  jail.  The  tokens  of  former  culverts 
are  still  to  be  seen  near  the  courthouse.  After  cross- 
ing Corbin  Street  the  stream  was  joined  by  another 
flowing  from  Franck's  Spring.  Here  Jacob  Franck, 
in  1756,  obtained  license  to  keep  a  village  inn,  and  on 
this  lot  he  afterwards  run  a  distillery,  for  the  benefit 
of  those  whose  thirst  could  not  be  adequately  quenched 
by  the  purer  and  wholesomer  waters  of  his  spring. 
No  doubt  many  of  the  affrays  and  murders  that 
claimed  the  attention  of  the  Court  took  their  origin 
in  the  firewater  that  was  brewed  in  the  boiling  caldrons 
and  flowed  trickling  down  through  the  coiling  worm 
of  Jacob  Franck's  distillery,  Hcensed  and  perhaps 
patronized  by  themselves.  We  notice  that  on  several 
occasions  the  Court  imposed  fines  upon  jurymen  who 
were  not  able  to  serve  because  of  drunkenness.  The 
distiller  and  render  reaped  the  profits,  the  Court  had 


THE    COURTHOUSE    BUILT  79 

the  trouble,  and  the  citizens  of  the  county  had  to  bear 
the  burden  of  the  expense. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  there  is  a  propensity  to 
change  the  names  of  places  as  time  moves  on.  This 
is  often  a  real  inconvenience  and  a  positive  loss ;  for  it 
not  infrequently  happens  that  lines  and  boundaries 
cannot  be  identified  because  of  this  change.  The 
popular  modern  name  for  the  stream  that  flows  south- 
east of  Salisbury  is  "Town  Creek,"  but  in  the  deed 
conveying  the  Township  lands  it  is  rightly  called 
"Crane  Creek,''  and  the  lines  cross  it  four  times.  It 
is  so  called  in  Colonel  Byrd's  History  of  the  Dividing 
Line.  There  are  other  deeds  for  lands  higher  up  the 
stream  that  call  it  by  that  name.  The  next  stream 
flowing  on  this  side  of  Dunn's  Alountain  was  anciently 
called  "Middle  Crane  Creek." 

Then  again  we  always  speak  of  "Main  Street," 
forgetful  or  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  the  old  deeds 
always  speak  of  it  as  Corbin  Street.  It  was  named 
after  Francis  Corbin,  Granville's  attorney.  It  is  not 
surprising,  perhaps,  that  the  older  citizens  should  dis- 
like to  call  the  street  after  this  grasping  attorney  who 
extorted  illegal  and  exorbitant  fees  from  the  people, 
and  who  was  once  mobbed  at  Edenton  for  his  extor- 
tion. Our  modern  town  authorities  have  also  taken 
the  liberty  of  altering  the  spelling  of  James  Innes' 
name,  and  we  now  see  every  day  staring  down  upon 
the  passerby,  "Inniss  Street."  The  signature  of 
James  Innes  may  now  be  seen  in  the  Register's  oflice 
to  hundreds  of  deeds,  and  it  is  invariably  written 
"Innes." 


80  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

There  were  probably  few  private  residences  in  Salis- 
bury, and  probably  no  inn,  until  1755.  In  the  fall  of 
1755,  the  Rev.  Hugh  ^IcAden,  a  Presbyterian  minister, 
on  a  missionary  expedition,  passed  from  the  "Jersey 
Settlement"  and  over  "Trading  Ford"  to  James  Alli- 
son's owning  land,  about  four  or  five  miles  south  of 
Salisbury  on  Crane  Creek,  but  he  made  no  call  at  Salis- 
bury. Perhaps  he  followed  the  Trading  Path,  and  so 
traveled  up  between  the  two  branches  of  Crane  Creek. 
Perhaps  Mr.  Sloan,  from  whose  house  in  the  "Jer- 
seys" he  came,  knew  of  no  Presbyterian  family  in  the 
little  village,  and  could  not  encourage  him  with  the 
hope  of  congenial  entertainment.  At  all  events,  duty 
or  inclination  led  him  to  pass  on  to  James  Allison's, 
and  from  Mr.  Allison's  to  John  Brandon's,  Uving  on 
the  west  side  of  the  plantation  now  owned  by  C.  H. 
McKenzie,  Esq.  Thence  he  journeyed  to  Thyatira, 
to  Coddle  Creek,  to  Center,  to  Rocky  River,  to  Sugar 
Creek,  and  on  to  the  western  part  of  South  Carolina. 


CHAPTER  VII 


EARLY  SETTLERS  IN  SALISBURY 

We  have  already  mentioned  James  Alexander,  who 
died  here  in  1754,  as  one  of  the  first  settlers  in  Sahs- 
bury.  We  have  also  mentioned  the  names  of  those 
who  were  licensed  to  keep  ordinaries  or  taverns,  in 
1755-56,  as  John  Ryle,  John  Louis  Beard,  Peter  Ar- 
rand,  Jacob  Franck,  Archibald  Craige,  James  Bower, 
Thomas  Bashford,  and  Robert  Gillespie.  Bashford 
and  Gillespie  seem  to  have  been  in  copartnership,  and 
bought  up  a  number  of  lots  in  the  town,  evidently  with 
the  view  of  holding  them  until  the  growth  of  the  town 
should  enhance  their  value.  In  1757  they  purchased 
lots  Nos.  3,  II,  and  12  in  the  great  "East  Square," 
from  Carter  and  Foster,  trustees  of  the  Township. 
These  lots  contained  one  hundred  and  forty-four 
square  poles  each,  and  on  one  of  them  they  estab- 
lished a  village  inn. 

Before  leaving  these  early  settlers,  the  reader  must 
have  a  special  introduction  to  a  few  of  them  who 
played  a  more  conspicuous  part  in  public  affairs.  The 
first  of  these  is  a  sturdy  German,  by  way  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, not  yet  naturalized.     His  name  is 

John  Louis  Beard 
While  he  lingered  in  Pennsylvania,  Mr.  Beard  was 
married  to  Miss   Christina   Snapp,  of  that  Province. 


82  HISTORY  OF   ROWAX   COUNTY 

Coming-  to  Salisbury,  he  was  naturalized  in  1755. 
While  many  of  the  German  settlers,  unacquainted  with 
the  English  language,  and  therefore  incapable  of  taking 
part  in  public  affairs,  were  content  to  remain  several 
years  as  liens,  and  whose  names  therefore  seldom 
appear  on  the  public  records,  Mr.  Beard,  with  a  vigor 
that  characterized  his  after  Hfe,  immediately  assumed 
his  place  as  an  active  and  energetic  citizen.  He  did 
not  at  first  settle  within  the  corporate  limits  of  the 
town,  but  opened  up  a  farm  on  Crane  Creek,  near  the 
Bringle's  Ferry  Road.  He  afterwards  owned  the  lot 
on  which  the  courthouse  now  stands,  and  erected  a 
large  dwelling-house  thereon.  In  1768,  ]\Ir.  Beard  was 
bereaved  of  a  beloved  daughter,  and  having  laid  her  in 
a  grave  on  a  lot  of  his  own,  he  made,  the  same  year,  a 
title  to  said  lot  of  one  hundred  and  forty  square  poles 
to  certain  trustees  of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church 
of  Salisbur>^  These  trustees  were  "to  erect  and  build 
thereon  a  church,  for  the  only  proper  use  and  behoof 
of  the  said  German  Lutheran  congregation  forever." 
He  also  granted  in  the  deed  the  use  of  the  church  to 
the  "High  Church  of  England,  and  to  the  Reformed 
Calvin  ministers,  at  such  time  as  the  said  Lutheran 
minister  doth  not  want  to  perform  divine  service  in 
it."  The  "Reformed  Calvin  ministers"  were  probably 
the  "German  Reformed,"  who  were  intimately 
associated  with  the  Lutherans,  often  using  the  same 
building.  This  lot  given  by  Mr.  Beard  is  the  one 
known  as  the  "Lutheran  graveyard,"  on  which 
formerly  stood  the  Lutheran  church.  It  is  now  some- 
times called  the  "Salisbury  Cemetery,"  and  has  been 


EARLY    SETTLERS    IN    SALISBURY  83 

recently  enclosed  with  a  substantial  brick  wall  by  the 
united  contributions  of  citizens  of  all  denominations. 
Within  its  spacious  enclosure  and  beneath  its  somber- 
hued  cedars,  sleeps  the  honored  dust  of  multitudes  of 
the  once  active  and  earnest  citizens  of  Salisbury.  Mr. 
Beard  left  a  large  family  of  sons  and  daughters, 
whose  descendants  are  still  among  us. 

Another  early  settler  here,  appearing  at  the  session 
of  the  first  Court,  in  June,  1753,  was 

John   Dunn,   Esq. 

This  gentleman  was  a  native  of  Ireland,  born  at 
\A'aterford,  and  on  his  mother's  side  connected  with 
the  Erskine  family.  He  was  a  younger  brother,  and 
was  early  sent  to  Oxford  University,  that  he  might 
prepare  himself  to  carve  out  his  own  fortune.  When 
he  was  about  twenty  years  of  age  he  left  Oxford,  and 
emigrated  to  America,  landing  in  Charleston,  S.  C. 
After  a  brief  residence  there  he  came  to  Salisbury, 
where  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life.  He  became 
in  1753  Clerk  of  the  Court  of  Pleas  and  Quarter  Ses- 
sions, which  office  he  held  until  he  became  a  licensed 
lawyer  in  1755.  His  residence  in  Salisbury  was  on 
the  corner  of  Innes  and  Church  Streets,  on  the  lot 
now  occupied  by  Mr.  P.  B.  Meroney.  After  the  style 
of  those  days,  the  house  was  built  as  close  to  the  street 
as  possible.  Here  the  writer  saw  a  freedman,  a  few 
days  ago,  throw  up  old  pieces  of  old  bricks,  as  he 
was  digging  out  a  place  in  which  to  plant  a  sycamore 
tree — doubtless  the  debris  of  John  Dunn's  family  resi- 
dence, or  perhaps  the  foundations  of  his  law  office. 


84  HISTORY  OF   ROWAX   COUNTY 

There  is  also  a  deed  on  record,  from  Earl  Granville  to 
John  Dunn,  dated  June  10,  1758,  for  four  hundred  and 
seventy  acres  of  land  on  the  south  branch  of  Middle 
Crane  Creek,  adjoining  the  lands  of  John  Brandon. 
He  purchased  lot  No.  5,  in  the  East  Square,  of  Carter 
and  Foster,  in  1755.  He  was  also  the  owner  of  a 
large  tract  of  land,  including  Dunn's  ^Mountain,  where 
he  made  his  home  after  the  Revolutionary  war. 

AA'iLLiAM  Temple  Coles 

was  another  of  the  early  settlers  in  Salisbury.  He 
was  a  native  of  Dublin,  Ireland,  and  was  related  to  the 
Temple  family.  In  Salisbury  he  was  the  proprietor 
or  keeper  of  a  tavern,  situated  on  the  corner  of  Corbin 
and  Innes  Streets,  where  Kluttz's  drug  store  now 
stands — the  same  property  that  Paul  Barringer  pur- 
chased from  Magoune  in  1768.  He  was  a  Freemason, 
as  he  records  himself.  His  \\'ill,  still  on  file  in  the 
Register's  office,  is  something  of  a  curiosity.  He  be- 
queaths to  his  wife,  Sarah,  four  lots  in  the  town  of 
Salisbury — her  choice  from  all  his  Salisbury  lots.  He 
leaves  to  his  son,  William  Temple  Coles,  Jr.,  "the 
whole  town  of  Salisbury,"  as  conveyed  to  him  by 
Foster,  a  former  trustee.  His  furniture  he  left  to  his 
daughter,  Henrietta  Coles.  He  bequeathed  a  half- 
acre  of  ground  in  the  South  Square  of  Salisbury  for  a 
burying-ground,  one-half  of  it  to  the  Freemasons,  and 
one-half  to  the  citizens.  This  lot  lay  where  the  North 
Carolina  Railroad  track  now  is,  where  the  Bank  Street 
bridge  crosses  the  said  road.  It  is  remembered  that 
when  the  "cut"  for  the  road  was  made  manv  human 


EARLY    SETTLERS    IN    SALISBURY  85 

bones  were  exposed.  By  what  means  the  right  of  the 
citizens  and  of  the  Freemasons  to  said  lot  passed 
away  we  know  not.  Neither  do  we  know  exactly 
what  claims  Mr.  Coles  had  to  the  ''whole  town  of 
Salisbury."  And  what  became  of  William  Temple 
Coles,  Jr.,  or  Henrietta  Coles,  or  where  the  elder  Coles 
was  buried,  are  questions  more  easily  asked  than 
answered. 

Though  not  permanent  residents  of  the  County  of 
Rowan,  the  names  of  James  Innes  and  Francis  Corbin 
were  very  familiar  in  the  days  of  the  early  settlement 
of  Salisbury.  These  were  Earl  Granville's  land 
agents,  and  had  in  their  hands  the  whole  disposal  of 
the  lands  in  the  Earl's  vast  estate.  Mosely  and  Holten 
were  the  first  agents,  and  after  them  Childs  and  Cor- 
bin. Hillsboro  was  first  called  Childsburg,  after  one  of 
these  agents.  Upon  the  removal  of  Childs,  the  agents 
were  Corbin  and  Innes.  These  gentlemen  had  an 
ofifice  on  the  corner  of  Innes  and  Church  Streets, 
where  the  fountain  in  Mr.  R.  J.  Holmes'  yard  now  is, 
in  close  proximity  to  John  Dunn's  law  office.  Francis 
Corbin  was  a  citizen  of  Chowan,  and  resided  a  few 
miles  from  Edenton.  He  is  represented  as  an  extor- 
tioner, charging  exorbitant  fees  for  his  official  acts. 
At  one  time  ten  or  fifteen  men  of  Halifax  County 
arrested  him  and  compelled  him  to  give  a  bond  that  he 
would  produce  his  books  and  return  all  money  re- 
ceived by  him  above  his  proper  fees.  Instead  of  doing 
this  he  commenced  a  suit  against  the  rioters,  and  some 
of  them  were  lodged  in  the  Enfield  gaol.  But  on  the 
next  day  the  prison  doors  were  broken  down,  and  the 


86  HISTORY  OF  ROWAX   COUNTY 

prisoners   liberated.     Corbin  then  thought  fit  to   dis- 
continue the  suit  and  pay  costs. 

James  Innes  was  a  citizen  of  Wihriington  and  a 
baron  of  the  Court  of  Exchequer  there.  He  was 
associated  with  Corbin  in  the  SaHsbury  land  office, 
and  one  of  the  principal  streets  was  named  after  him. 
But  even  more  prominent  among  our  people  were  two 
brothers,  who  probably  came  to  this  county  along  with 
Francis  Corbin  from  Halifax  or  Edenton.  Their 
names  were 

John  and  Thomas  Frohock 

The  name  of  John  Frohock,  in  beautiful  round 
hand,  appears  as  "Court  Clerk"  on  the  records  as  early 
as  1756;  and  for  a  number  of  years  after  the  large 
volumes  of  land  titles  of  various  kinds  are  recorded  in 
the  same  beautiful  hand,  and  authenticated  over  his 
signature.  Step  by  step  he  grew  very  wealthy,  chiefly, 
it  would  appear,  by  entering  and  selling  public  lands. 
The  books  are  largely  filled  by  conveyances  either  to 
him  or  from  him.  In  his  Will,  dated  1768,  and  proved 
in  1772,  there  are  named  thousands  of  acres  of  land  in 
Rowan  County,  in  the  forks  of  the  Yadkin,  near  Salis- 
bur}%  on  Saxapahaw,  on  Tar  River,  and  in  Virginia, 
bequeathed  by  him  to  his  two  brothers,  Thomas  and 
William  Frohock,  besides  thirty  or  forty  slaves,  one  of 
which  he  liberated  at  death.  He  was  once  the  owner 
of  the  lot  on  which  the  Watchman  office  and  Craw- 
ford's hardware  store  now  stands,  and  in  a  transfer 
of  said  lot  between  John  Frohock  and  \\^illiam  Temple 
Coles,  the  street  now  called  "Fisher  Street"  is  called 


EARLY    SETTLERS    IN    SALISBURY  8/ 

"Temple  Street."  He  mentions  neither  wife  nor  child 
in  his  Will,  and  it  is  presumed  that  he  was  not  married. 
Besides  the  kindness  shown  in  the  education  and 
liberation  of  his  body  servant,  Absalom,  he  expressly 
enjoins  that  his  debtors  should  not  be  oppressed  or 
sued,  but  ample  time  given  to  them  to  pay  their  debts 
to  his  executors.  His  brother  William  does  not  ap- 
pear to  have  resided  here,  but  had  his  home  in  Halifax, 
though  one  of  his  daughters  married  and  settled  in  the 
vicinity  of  Salisbury. 

Thomas  Frohock 

resided  on  what  has  been  known  as  the  McCay  place, 
and  inherited  the  mill  and  the  lands  adjoining  from  his 
brother,  John  Frohock,  who  was  probably  the  builder 
of  the  mill — certainly  the  owner  of  it,  and  of  all  the 
lands  lying  between  the  town  and  Grant's  Creek. 

Dr.  Caruthers  designates  Thomas  Frohock  as  a 
"bachelor,"  but  the  evidence  of  his  Will  is  to  the  con- 
trary. His  Will,  in  1794,  leaves  his  property  to  his 
son,  Alexander  Frohock,  and  to  his  daughter,  Eliza- 
beth, who  was  married  to  Charles  Hunt,  a  merchant  of 
Salisbury.  There  are  two  or  three  items  of  his  history 
of  peculiar  interest.  The  first  is  that  he  gave  to  the 
town  that  lot  now  known  as  the  "English  Graveyard," 
or  "Oak  Grove  Cemetery,"  and  the  schoolhouse  lot  im- 
mediately in  front.  The  oldest  stone  in  this  yard  is 
that  of  Capt.  Daniel  Little,  who  died  in  1775,  and  was 
laid  peacefully  to  rest  just  as  the  stormy  days  of  the 
Revolutionary  war  were  coming  on.  In  this  place,  it  is 
said  that  some  of  Gates'  soldiers,  after  the  battle  of. 


88  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

Camden,  wounded  there,  or  worn  out  in  their  flight, 
were  buried.  And  here  were  interred  some  of  the 
British  soldiers,  who  died  in  1781  during  the  time  that 
Cornwallis  occupied  SaHsbury,  The  graveyard  lay 
unenclosed  until  about  fifty  years  ago,  when  William 
Gay,  the  father  of  the  late  Mrs.  Mary  Brown,  left  a 
legacy  for  the  purpose  of  enclosing  it.  With  the  pro- 
ceeds, a  wooden  paling  or  plank  fence  was  put  around 
it,  and  renewed  from  time  to  time  until,  in  1855,  the 
present  substantial  granite  wall  was  erected  by  the 
voluntary  contributions  of  the  citizens  of  this  town. 

Another  matter  mentioned  by  Caruthers,  in  his  Life 
of  Caldwell  (page  114),  is  that  ''Thomas  Frohock  in 
Salisbury,  and  Edmund  Fanning  in  Hillsboro,  were 
Clerks  of  the  Superior  Courts  in  their  respective 
counties,  and  had  become  exceedingly  obnoxious  to 
the  people  by  their  extortions."  *  *  *  ''It  is  said 
that  Frohock  charged  fifteen  dollars  for  a  marriage 
license;  and  the  consequence  was  that  some  of  the 
inhabitants  on  the  headwaters  of  the  Yadkin  took  a 
short  cut.  They  took  each  other  for  better  or  for 
worse ;  and  considered  themselves  as  married  without 
any  further  ceremony."  In  his  last  \\'ill,  Thomas 
Frohock  enjoins  upon  his  executors  to  pay  all  his  just 
debts  of  under  three  years'  standing,  but  to  plead  the 
"statute  of  limitation"  upon  all  claims  older  than  that, 
whenever  they  could. 

A  constant  tradition  represents  that  Thomas  Fro- 
hock lies  buried  in  an  unmarked  grave  on  the  hillside, 
within  two  hundred  yards  of  McCay's — once  Fro- 
hock's — mill. 


EARLY    SETTLERS    IN    SALISBURY  89 

It  is  now  one  hundred  years  since  these  old  citizens, 
Dunn,  Beard,  Coles,  Corbin,  Innes,  John  and  Thomas 
Frohock,  lived  and  acted  their  part  in  the  ancient 
Township  of  SaHsbury.  Now  their  names  are  never 
heard  except  as  the  antiquarian  rummages  among  the 
dusty  records  of  a  bygone  generation,  or  questions 
some  old  citizen  whose  memory  is  stored  with  the 
traditions  of  the  past.  The  places  that  knew  them 
once  will  know  them  no  more  forever. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


CHARTER   REGULATIONS 

In  modern  days  towns  and  cities  rise  like  mushrooms 
along  the  lines  of  railways,  or  in  the  regions  of  the 
great  West.  But  the  growth  of  towns  at  the  early  set- 
tlement of  this  country  was  a  much  more  gradual 
thing.  The  people  did  not  originally  come  to  this  sec- 
tion with  the  view  of  making  fortunes  by  trade,  nor 
by  the  possession  of  lucrative  offices,  but  to  earn  a 
living  by  the  simpler  process  of  cultivating  the  soil  or 
by  mechanical  pursuits.  They  were  not  therefore 
disposed  to  congregate  in  towns,  but  to  scatter  far  and 
wide,  where  the  most  fertile  lands  were  to  be  found, 
where  game  was  most  abundant,  or  where  they  sup- 
posed they  would  enjoy  the  best  health.  For  many 
years  therefore  the  towns  were  composed  of  the  public 
buildings,  the  residences  of  some  of  the  county  officials, 
a  store  or  two,  a  hatter  shop,  a  blacksmith  shop,  a 
tailor  shop,  and  a  few  inns  or  ordinaries  furnishing 
''entertainment  for  man  or  beast.'*  ''Hotel"  was  an 
unknown  word  among  those  people,  who  had  not  yet 
learned  to  disguise  an  English  article  under  a  French 
name.  It  required  a  half-century  for  the  population  to 
increase  to  five  hundred;  for  it  was  about  1803  that 
Salisbury  is  represented  as  containing  one  hundred 
houses,  and  the  custom  is  to  estimate  five  inhabitants 


92  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

to  each  house.  And  yet  the  Httle  village  at  once  be- 
came a  point  of  importance  as  the  place  where  the 
Courts  of  Oyer  and  Terminer  and  General  Gaol 
Delivery,  for  the  counties  of  Anson,  Mecklenburg,  and 
Rowan,  were  held. 

The  Court  system  of  North  Carolina  adopted  in 
1746  (See  Swan's  Revisal,  pp.  224-25),  provided  that 
the  ''Court  of  Chancery,  and  the  Supreme  or  General 
Court,"  should  be  held  in  Xewbem,  where  the  Chan- 
cery and  other  offices  were  to  be  located.  Besides 
this  Court,  the  Chief  Justice  was  required,  twice  every 
year,  to  hold  a  ''Court  of  Assize,  Oyer  and  Terminer 
and  General  Gaol  Delivery,"  in  the  towns  of  Edenton 
and  Wilmington,  and  the  couthouse  in  Edgecombe. 

After  the  erection  of  Anson,  Rowan,  and  Orange 
Counties,  it  appears  that  Salisbury  was  added  as  a 
fourth  place  for  holding  such  Courts.  At  least  the 
earhest  records  (dated  1755)  in  Rowan  courthouse 
show  that  such  a  Court  was  held  here.  And  as  about 
twenty  leaves  or  more  are  torn  off  from  the  first  part 
of  the  record,  it  is  probable  that  there  were  earlier 
Courts.  In  1756^  the  Hon.  Peter  Henly  presided  at 
such  a  Court  here,  for  Rowan,  Anson,  and  Orange, 
with  Charles  Elliott,  Esq.,  as  Attorney-General.  In 
1758,  the  Hon.  James  Hasell,  Chief  Justice,  presided. 
At  the  next  Court,  IMarmaduke  Jones,  Esq.,  Associate 
Justice,  presided,  with  Edmund  Fanning,  Esq.,  Attor- 
ney for  the  King,  and  John  Frohock,  Esq.,  Clerk.  At 
this  Court,  Abner  Nash,  Esq.,  produced  his  license 
from  Governor  Dobbs  to  practice  as  a  lawyer  in  the 
Province. 


CHARTER     REGULATIONS  93 

In  1762  "a.  Superior  Court  was  held  here,  presided 
over  by  the  Hon.  Stephen  Dewey,  a  Justice  of  the 
Superior  Courts  of  Pleas  and  Grand  Sessions."  In 
1763,  Maurice  Moore,  Esq.,  Associate  Judge,  with  Ed- 
mund Fanning,  Esq.,  Attorney-General,  and  John 
Frohock,  Clerk,  officiated  at  a  Court  in  Salisbury. 
These  extracts  and  references  reveal  the  fact  that,  soon 
after  the  organization  of  Rowan  County,  Salisbury 
became  a  center  in  the  Court  system  of  Western  Car- 
olina, and  to  this,  among  other  causes,  is  to  be  at- 
tributed the  fact  that  she  was  the  most  prominent  and 
populous  town  in  the  West.  This  prominence  con- 
tinued until  the  modern  railroad  system  superseded 
the  Court  system  in  influence,  and  fixing  the  centers  of 
trade  elsewhere  built  up  other  thriving  and  populous 
towns,  which  have  outstripped  Salisbury  in  the 
rapidity  of  their  growth. 

The  Superior  Courts  were  established  by  Act  of  the 
General  Assembly  at  Newbern,  in  the  year  1766,  during 
the  administration  of  Governor  Tryon.  The  State 
was  divided  into  six  districts,  viz. :  V\'ilmington,  New- 
bern, Edenton,  Halifax,  Hillsboro,  and  Salisbury  dis- 
tricts, the  latter  embracing  the  counties  above  named. 
These  Courts  were  presided  over  by  a  Chief  Justice  and 
two  Associate  Justices,  appointed  by  the  Governor.  The 
Clerks  of  these  Courts  were  appointed  by  the  Chief 
Justice.  The  Chief  Justice,  by  act  of  1770,  was  to  re- 
ceive a  salary  of  six  hundred  pounds  f£6oo),  and 
also  the  sum  of  fifty  pounds  (£50)  for  each  Court  he 
attended,  while  the  Associate  Justices,  by  act  of  1766, 
received  forty-one  pounds   (^41)    for  each  Court  at- 


94  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

tended;  that  is,  about  one  hundred  dollars,  specie,  for 
each  Court ;  or,  for  the  twelve  Courts,  twelve  hundred 
dollars  per  annum.  The  salary  of  the  Chief  Justice 
would  be  about  equal  to  thirty-three  hundred  dollars, 
in  specie. 

At  its  first  establishment  the  little  village  of  SaHs- 
bury  was  not  provided  with  a  Charter  or  municipal 
government,  nor  for  twelve  or  fifteen  years  after- 
wards. But  in  1770  an  Act  was  passed  by  the  As- 
sembly for  ''Regulating  the  Town  of  SaHsbury."  The 
preamble  states  that  Salisbury  is  a  "healthy,  pleasant 
situation,  well  watered,  and  convenient  for  inland 
trade."  Even  at  that  early  day  Frohock's — after- 
wards called  McCay's — millpond  was  in  existence, 
and  no  doubt  the  deadly  miasma  rose  from  its  broad 
surface  of  nearly  a  square  mile  in  area,  for  we  learn 
that  Mr.  Frohock's  residence  on  a  hill  on  the  south- 
east side  of  the  pond,  in  later  years  called  ''The  Cas- 
tle," was  regarded  as  an  unhealthful  place,  and  many 
of  his  slaves  died  annually  of  the  fever.  But  the  pond 
was  separated  from  Salisbury  by  a  forest  growth, 
whose  leafy  branches  absorbed  or  dissipated  the  nox- 
ious exhalations,  so  that  for  many  years,  even  up  to 
the  present  century,  the  town  was  resorted  to  for 
health  by  people  from  the  lower  portions  of  the  State. 
And  it  is  a  happy  circumstance  that,  after  standing  for 
over  a  hundred  years,  its  present  owners  generously 
consented  to  cut  the  huge  embankment  and  drain  off 
the  festering  waters.  Thus  for  the  last  half-dozen 
years  the  city  is  restored  to  its  ancient  condition  of 
healthfulness,  and  the  people  from  a  warmer  climate 


CHARTER    REGULATIONS  95 

again  begin  to  resort  here,  even  in  the  summer  time, 
without  fear,  especially  those  who  desire  to  secure  the 
benefit  of  the  skill  of  our  most  excellent  physicians. 

The  Common 

It  was  customary  for  the  towns  in  England  to  have 
a  ''Common"  or  open  tract  of  public  land  in  their  im- 
mediate vicinity,  where  the  cattle  might  graze  at  will, 
where  the  children  might  play,  and  the  gatherings  of 
the  citizens  be  held  on  extraordinary  occasions.     In 
accordance  with  this  custom,  the  Act  of  the  Assembly 
specifies  a  "Common"  in  connection  with  the  town  of 
Salisbury.     Its   precise   locality  has   been   difficult   to 
determine,  but  the  Act  appears  to  describe  it  as  lying 
"on  each   side   of  the   Western   Great   Road   leading 
through  the  frontiers  of  this  Province."  If  this  "West- 
ern  Great  Road"   was  the   Beattie's   Ford  Road"   of 
modern   days,   crossing  Grant's   Creek   at  the   bridge 
near  the  head  of  McCay's  pond,  the  said  road   ran 
through  the  westward  of  town,  leaving  Corbin  Street 
with  "Temple"  or  Fisher  Street,  running  diagonally 
through  the  square  occupied  by  the  late  Dr.  Jos.  W. 
Hall,  and  back  of  the  residence  of  the  late  Judge  Cald- 
well—now  the  residence  of  M.  L.  Holmes.  The  "Com- 
mon"  on   each   side   of  this   road  would  include  the 
square  now  occupied  by  the  grounds  of  the  Presby- 
terian manse,  and  the  spring  that  was  anciently  on  it, 
as  well  as  the  spring  at  the  head  of  the  stream  starting 
behind  Paul  Heilig's  residence,  and  running  through 
the   grounds   of   the   "National   Cemetery."     Persons 
still  living  remember  when  these  grounds  were  unoc- 


96  HISTORY   OF  ROWAN    COUNTY 

cupied  and  covered  with  small  oaks  and  chinquapin 
bushes.  In  a  plan  of  the  town  made  about  sixty  years 
ago,  now  lying  before  the  writer,  these  lots  are  marked 
as  belonging  to  Troy,  Chambers,  Caldwell,  Thomas 
Dixon,  H.  C.  Jones,  Dr.  Polk,  John  Beard,  Louis 
Beard,  Lauman,  Brown,  Woodson,  etc.  These  lots, 
originally  constituting  the  Common,  had  probably  been 
recently  sold,  perhaps  as  a  financial  enterprise  to  re- 
lieve the  town  of  some  unfortunate  debt,  or  to  carry 
out  some  promising  scheme  of  internal  improvement 
that  was  destined  never  to  see  light.  It  is  a  matter  of 
profound  astonishment  that  town  corporations  will 
part  with  grounds  that  would  make  desirable  parks  or 
breathing  places,  for  a  mere  trifle,  and  condemn  the 
citizens  to  live  in  a  long,  unbroken  line  of  houses,  un- 
relieved by  shade,  when  they  might  so  easily  retain  a 
Common  or  Park,  where  the  inhabitants  might  resort 
at  will  in  summer  weather,  and  refresh  themselves  by 
breathing  the  pure  air  that  comes  whispering  through 
the  rustling  leaves  of  the  trees.  It  is  really  more 
difficult,  in  some  of  our  larger  towns,  to  escape  from 
the  dust  and  glare  of  the  streets  and  painted  houses 
into  a  pleasant  and  shady  retreat,  than  it  is  in  the 
great  cities  where  the  land  is  worth  hundreds  of  dollars 
per  square  yard. 

The  Act  provides  that  all  the  inhabitants  of  Salis- 
bury shall  have  free  access  to  all  natural  springs  and 
fountains,  whether  on  private  lots  or  on  the  Common, 
and  that  it  was  lawful  for  anyone  to  ''cut  and  fell," 
and  appropriate  to  his  own  use,  any  tree  or  trees  stand- 
ing on  the   Town   Common."     That  was  before  the 


CHARTER    REGULATIONS  97 

exquisite  poem,  beginning  "W^oodman,  Spare  that 
Tree,"  was  composed,  and  the  early  inhabitants  were 
more  anxious  to  enjoy  their  Hberties,  and  to  have  an 
open  grazing  place  for  their  cattle,  than  to  have  a 
shady  park  for  public  resort. 

It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  a  strict  "hog  law"  pre- 
vailed in  the  sylvan  shades  of  the  ancient  borough  of 
Salisbury.  Cows  were  indeed  a  privileged  class,  and 
might  roam  at  will  over  the  streets  and  Common,  but 
it  was  enacted  that  "no  inhabitants  of  said  town  shall, 
on  any  pretense  whatsoever,  keep  any  hog  or  hogs, 
shoat  or  pigs,  running  at  large  within  the  corporate 
limits  of  said  town,  under  a  penalty  of  twenty 
shillings,"  while  anyone  had  the  right  to  "shoot,  kill, 
or  destroy"  the  offending  pig  at  sight.  As  a  protection 
against  fire,  every  householder  was  required  to  keep  a 
ladder,  and  two  good  leather  buckets.  Fast  riding  and 
fast  driving  incurred  a  penalty  of  five  shillings  for 
each  offense.  It  further  appears  that  the  pioneer 
settlers  were  provided  with  a  market-house  for  the 
mutual  benefit  of  the  buyer  and  seller. 

Taking  them  all  in  all  the  municipal  regulations  of 
1770  were  good  and  wholesome,  and  in  some  par- 
ticulars might  still  stand  as  models. 

The  gentlemen  who  were  authorized,  as  Town  Com- 
missioners, to  put  these  regulations  into  execution  were 
prominent  citizens,  selected  for  their  standing  and 
their  fitness  for  the  high  trust,  and  were  generally  the 
owners  of  a  large  real  estate  in  the  town.  The  list  is 
as  follows:  William  Steel.  John  Dunn,  Maxwell 
Chambers,  John  Louis  Beard,  Thomas  Frohock,  Wm. 


98  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

Temple  Coles,  Matthew  Troy,  Peter  Rep,  James  Kerr, 
Alexander  Martin,  and  Daniel  Little.  These  Commis- 
sioners were  appointed  by  the  General  Assembly,  and 
in  case  of  a  vacancy,  the  place  was  to  be  supplied  by 
appointment  of  the  Justices  of  the  Rowan  Inferior 
Court.  Holding  their  offices  for  a  term  of  years,  or 
during  life,  these  Commissioners  would  be  able  to 
mature  and  carry  out  extended  schemes  of  improve- 
ment, without  having  before  their  eyes  the  constant 
fear  of  being  left  out  the  next  year  if  they  should 
chance  to  offend  any  of  the  people  by  the  conscientious 
and  faithful  discharge  of  unpopular  duties.  This  was 
the  conser\'atism  of  monarchy,  and  doubtless  it  had 
its  evils  as  well  as  the  fickleness  and  instability  of 
popular  democracy.  Perhaps  the  best  results  would 
be  secured  by  a  policy  lying  between  these  two  ex- 
tremes. 


CHAPTER  IX 


RELIGION  AND  CHURCHES,   WITH  A  RESUME  OF  THE 
PARISH    LAWS 

The  early  settlers  of  Rowan  County  were  religious 
people.  The  Presbyterians,  of  Scotch-Irish  extrac- 
tion, were  probably  the  most  numerous  in  the  section 
now  comprising  Guilford  County,  in  the  Jersey  Set- 
tlement, in  Western  Rowan  and  Iredell  Counties.  The 
Lutherans  and  German  Reformed  (the  latter  some- 
times called  Calvin  congregations,  and  Presbyterians), 
prevailed  in  parts  of  Guilford,  Davidson,  East  and 
South  Rowan,  and  Catawba  Counties.  I  name  the 
regions  as  they  are  now  known,  but  they  were  all  then 
in  Rowan.  In  Davidson  and  Randolph  there  were 
Baptist  churches.  In  Salisbury,  in  the  "Jerseys,"  and 
elsewhere,  there  were  some  members  of  the  Church  of 
England.  It  is  probable  that  \\'illiam  Temple  Coles 
and  his  family,  John  Dunn,  perhaps  Corbin  and  Innes 
and  the  Frohocks  were  attached  to  that  communion. 
We  infer  this  simply  from  their  nativity  and  their  con- 
nection with  Earl  Granville  and  Governor  Dobbs,  as 
agents  or  officers  of  the  crown.  In  regard  to  Dunn 
we  have  a  more  certain  tradition,  as  we  shall  here- 
after mention.     It  will  be  remembered  that 


loo  history  of  rowan  county 

St.  Luke's  Parish 

was  established  cotemporaneously  with  the  county,  as 
a  part  of  the  great  system  of  government  here  wrought 
out,  or  attempted ;  as  nearly  conformed  to  the  system 
of  the  mother  country  as  practicable.  During  the 
administration  of  Governor  Dobbs — in  1754,  according 
to  Wheeler — ten  years  later  according  to  other  authori- 
ties (See  Wheeler,  p.  357;  Caruthers'  Caldwell,  p. 
175),  steps  were  taken  to  provide  for  the  ministry  of 
the  word  according  to  the  rubric  of  the  Church  of 
England.  A  petition,  signed  by  thirty-four  persons 
in  the  County  of  Rowan,  and  addressed  to  Governor 
Dobbs,  represents:  ''That  His  Majesty's  most  dutiful 
and  loyal  subjects  in  this  country,  who  adhere  to  the 
liturgy  and  profess  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  of 
England,  as  by  law  established,  have  not  the  privileges 
and  advantages  which  the  rubric  and  canons  of  the 
Church  allow  and  enjoin  on  all  its  members.  That  the 
Acts  of  the  Assembly  calculated  for  forming  a  regular 
vestry  in  all  the  counties  have  never,  in  this  county, 
produced  their  happy  fruits.  That  the  County  of 
Rowan,  above  all  counties  in  the  Province,  lies  un- 
der great  disadvantages,  as  her  inhabitants  are  com- 
posed almost  of  all  nations  of  Europe,  and  instead  of 
a  uniformity  in  doctrine  and  worship,  they  have  a 
medley  of  most  of  the  religious  tenets  that  have  lately 
appeared  in  the  world ;  who  from  dread  of  submitting 
to  the  national  Church,  should  a  lawful  vestry  be  estab- 
lished, elect  such  of  their  own  community  as  evade 
the  Acts  of  the  Assembly  and  refuse  the  oath,  whence 


RELIGIOX    AND   CHURCHES  101 

we  can  never  expect  the  regular  enlivening  beams  of 
the  holy  Gospel  to  shine  upon  us." 

From  the  fact  that  there  were  only  thirty-four 
signers  to  this  petition  from  the  vast  territory  of 
Rowan,  we  may  naturally  infer  that  the  population  in 
those  days  was  hopelessly  plunged  into  ''Dissent."  And 
yet  it  was  the  purpose  of  the  far-away  rulers  of  Eng- 
land, and  of  the  North  Carolina  Assembly,  to  have 
the  Province  to  conform  as  far  as  possible  to  the 
ecclesiastical  system  at  home.  And  so  the  parish  sys- 
tem of  England,  as  far  as  practicable,  was  incorpor- 
ated in  the  system  of  Xorth  Carolina  law.  What  that 
system  was,  can  be  gathered  from  a  voluminous  Act, 
of  thirty-three  sections,  passed  by  the  General  Assem- 
bly at  Wilmington  in  1764.  Other  Acts  and  regula- 
tions of  the  same  general  tenor  had  been  adopted  on 
various  occasions  before,  but  the  Act  of  1764 — with 
a  supplementary  one  in  1765 — is  the  most  full,  and 
gives  an  impartial  view  of  the  system  as  perfected, 
just  before  the  final  downfall  of  the  whole  scheme  at 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  in  1776.  I  will  en- 
deavor to  give  an  impartial  resume  of  the  parish 
system. 

According  to  this  "Act"  the  Freeholders  of  each 
county,  on  Easter  ^Monday  of  every  third  year,  were 
required  to  elect  twelve  vestrymen  to  hold  said  office 
for  the  term  of  three  years.  A  "Freeholder"  accord- 
ing to  existing  laws  was  a  person  who  owned  at  least 
fifty  acres  of  land,  or  a  lot  in  some  town.  These 
Freeholders  were  required  to  vote  for  vestrymen 
under     a     penalty     of     twenty     shillings  —  equal     to 


I02  HISTORY   OF  ROWAN   COUNTY 

two  dollars  and  fifty  cents  in  specie — and  the  vestry- 
men SO  elected  were  required  to  subscribe  an  oath 
that  ''they  will  not  oppose  the  doctrine,  discipline,  and 
liturgy  of  the  Church  of  England,  as  by  law  estab- 
lished;" and  in  case  of  refusal  to  qualify,  any  vestry- 
man-elect was  to  be  declared  incapable  of  acting  in  that 
capacity.  Out  of  the  twelve  vestrymen  two  church 
wardens  were  to  be  chosen,  who  were  required  to  hold 
office  at  least  one  year,  under  a  penalty  of  forty 
shillings,  equal  to  five  dollars  in  specie  or  sterling 
money,  and  they  were  to  forfeit  five  pounds  (£5)  if 
they  did  not  set  up  their  accounts  for  public  inspection 
in  the  courthouse.  These  vestries  might  appoint  one  or 
more  clerks,  or  readers,  to  perform  divine  service  at 
such  places  as  they  might  designate. 

The  vestry  were  also  empowered  to  lay  a  tax  of  ten 
shillings,  proclamation  money,  on  each  ''taxable"  in 
the  county,  for  the  purpose  of  building  churches  or 
chapels,  paying  ministers'  salaries,  purchasing  a  glebe, 
erecting  "mansions  or  parsonages,"  etc. 

"Taxables,"  as  we  gather  from  another  Act,  were  all 
white  male  persons  over  sixteen  years  of  age,  all 
negroes,  mulattoes,  and  mustees,both  male  and  female, 
over  twelve  years  of  age,  and  all  white  persons  male 
and  female  over  twelve  years  of  age  who  intermar- 
ried with  negroes  or  persons  of  mixed  blood.  Such  a 
tax,  faithfully  collected,  would  have  yielded  an  im- 
mense revenue  for  the  support  of  religion.  Being  a 
poll  tax,  and  not  a  property  tax,  it  fell  heavily  upon 
the  poor,  and  lightly  on  the  rich.  The  tax  thus  levied 
was  to  be  collected  by  the  sherifT,  as  the  other  taxes, 


RELIGION    AND    CHURCHES  IO3 

and  paid  over  to  the  vestry;  and  in  case  of  refusal,  the 
sheriff  was  required  to  "distrain"  the  goods  of  the 
dehnquent  and  sell  them  at  public  auction,  after  pub- 
lishing the  sale  by  posting  it  on  the  courthouse  door, 
the  church  door,  and  by  public  announcement  to  the 
people  immediately  after  divine  service.  (See  Davis' 
Revisal  of  North  Carolina  Laws,  Edition  1773,  pp. 
304,  309.) 

By  an  ''Act"  passed  in  1765,  during  the  administra- 
tion of  William  Tryon  as  Lieutenant-Governor,  and 
called  an  ''Act  for  establishing  an  orthodox  clergy,"  it 
was  provided  that  every  minister  of  a  parish  was  to 
receive  a  stated  salary  of  £133,  6s,  8d.,  and  for  each 
marriage  solemnized  in  the  parish,  whether  he  per- 
formed the  ceremony  or  not,  provided  he  did  not  re- 
fuse, twenty  shillings ;  for  preaching  each  funeral,  forty 
shillings.  In  addition  to  this  he  was  to  have  the  free 
use  of  a  "mansion  house"  and  "glebe,"  or  "tract  of 
good  land"  of  at  least  two  hundred  acres,  or  twenty 
pounds  (£20)  additional  until  such  time  as  the  "man- 
sion house"  and  "glebe"  were  provided.  The  "mansion 
house  was  required  to  be  thirty-eight  feet  in  length, 
and  eighteen  feet  in  width,  and  to  be  accompanied  with 
a  kitchen,  barn,  stable,  dairy,  and  meathouse,  with 
such  other  conveniences  as  they  may  think  necessary." 
(See  Davis'  Revisal,  1773,  pp.  338-39.)  From  this 
it  will  appear  that  the  Assembly  of  North  Carolina 
made  a  fair  and  liberal  provision  for  the  support  of 
her  parish  ministers,  and  with  the  exception  of  the 
glebe,  which  he  need  not  cultivate  himself,  rendered 
him  "free  from  worldly  cares  and  avocations."     But 


I04  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN    COUNTY 

the  difficulty  lay  in  putting  these  regulations  into 
effect.  In  Governor  Dobbs'  letter  to  the  "Society  for 
the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,"  he 
informs  the  Society,  in  1764,  that  in  North  Carolina 
"there  were  then  but  six  clergymen,  though  there  were 
twenty-nine  parishes,  and  each  parish  contained  a 
whole  county."  (Rev.  R.  J.  Miller's  letter  to  Dr. 
Hawks,  1830.)  The  fact  was  that  a  large  part  of  the 
population  were  "Dissenters,"  and  they  resisted  every 
effort  to  settle  a  parish  minister  over  them,  and  thus 
refused  to  subject  themselves  to  additional  taxation. 
In  Unity  Parish,  in  Guilford  County,  the  people 
elected  non-Episcopalians  for  vestrymen,  and  it  be- 
came necessary  for  the  Assembly  to  dissolve  the  ves- 
try and  declare  their  actions  null  and  void.  (See 
Caruthers'  "Caldwell".) 

But  let  Parson  Miller,  in  the  letter  above  referred 
to,  tell  how  matters  were  conducted  in  Rowan  County, 
and  in  Salisbury  especially.  He  says :  "Subsequently 
to  the  year  1768,  the  Rev.  Mr.  (Theodore  Drane) 
Draig  came  to  Salisbury,  in  Rowan  County,  which 
was  then  St.  Luke's  Parish,  and  so  far  succeeded  as  to 
be  able  to  have  a  small  chapel  erected  in  what  is  called 
the  Jersey  Settlement,  about  nine  or  ten  miles  east  of 
Salisbury.  But  the  opposition  made  to  his  settlement 
as  rector  of  that  parish,  by  the  Presbyterians,  was  so 
very  rancorous  as  to  raise  great  animosity  in  their 
minds  against  all  his  endeavors  to  that  end — they  be- 
ing far  the  most  numerous  body,  having  several  large 
congregations  well  organized  in  the  adjacent  counties, 
and  one  of  them  in  the  vicinity  of  Salisbury.     I  well 


RELIGION    AND    CHUCHES  IO5 

remember  an  anecdote  told  me  by  Dr.  Xewnan  [and] 
John  Cowan,  Sr.,  in  their  Hfetime,  and  indeed  by- 
several  others  in  the  vicinity  of  Salisbury,  some  of 
whom  may  yet  be  living:  'That  on  Easter  ]\Ionday, 
when  an  election  according  to  the  then  law  of  the 
Province  was  to  be  held  for  the  purpose  of  electing 
vestrymen,  the  Presbyterians  set  up  candidates  of 
their  own  persuasion  and  elected  them,  not  with  any 
design  either  to  serve  or  act  as  vestrymen,  but  merely 
to  prevent  the  Episcopalians  from  electing  such  as 
would  have  done  so.'  This  caused  much  bitter 
animosity  to  spring  up  between  the  parties,  and  so, 
much  discouraged  the  reverend  gentleman.  Perhaps 
the  approach  of  the  Revolutionary  War  had  its  influ- 
ence also ;  but  be  that  as  it  may,  after  a  four  years' 
fruitless  effort  to  organize  an  Episcopal  congregation 
in  this  section,  he  left  it  as  he  found  it,  without  any" 
(Rev.  Air.  Miller's  letter  in  ''Church  Messenger/'  Octo- 
ber 15,  1879).  A  fuller  sketch  of  each  of  the  churches 
of  Salisbury  will  be  furnished  in  the  future  chapters, 
but  so  much  was  deemed  necessary  here,  to  give  a 
glimpse  of  the  early  days  before  the  Revolution.  To 
the  stirring  times  immediately  preceding  the  great 
struggle  for  American  liberty  we  must  now  direct  our 
attention,  for  Rowan  County  was  rather  before  than 
behind  her  neighbors  in  that  struggle,  as  the  record 
will  show. 


CHAPTER  X 


THE    INDIAN    WARS;    SCHOOLS;    SOCIAL    LIFE 

Though  the  Indians  had  retreated  from  the  lands 
occupied  by  the  whites,  yet  they  still  continued  upon 
the  frontiers,  and  both  in  peace  and  war  were  often 
seen  in  the  "settlements."  On  the  records  of  the 
Rowan  County  Court,  about  1756,  there  is  an  account 
of  a  visit  from  a  party  of  Indians,  one  a  Sapona  In- 
dian, another  a  Susquehanna  Indian,  who  were  pass- 
ing through  Salisbury  on  their  way  to  the  Catawbas. 
Their  object  was  to  conclude  a  treaty  of  peace  with 
the  latter,  and  they  asked  that  a  ''pass"  be  granted  to 
them,  and  as  a  token  of  their  good  will  they  left  a 
''belt,"  or  "string"  of  "wampum,"  in  the  hands  of  the 
Clerk  of  the  Court.  But  their  visits  were  not  all  of 
such  a  peaceful  character.  The  terrible  war-whoop 
sometimes  rang  out  in  the  dead  hours  of  the  night,  and 
families  of  settlers  were  mercilessly  slaughtered,  or 
carried  off  to  a  hopeless  captivity  beyond  the  moun- 
tains, west  of  the  Blue  Ridge. 

Where  the  shadows  of  the  giant  mountain-peaks 
lingered  longest  in  the  morning,  lived  the  powerful 
and  warlike  Cherokees.  Bancroft,  in  language  that 
beautifully  describes  the  scenery  of  that  region,  thus 


I08  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

pictures  the  land  of  the  Cherokees.  "Their  homes 
were  encircled  by  blue  hills  rising  beyond  hills,  of 
which  the  lofty  peaks  would  kindle  with  the  early 
light,  and  the  overshadowing  ridges  envelop  the  val- 
leys like  a  mass  of  clouds.  There  the  rocky  cliffs, 
rising  in  naked  grandeur,  defy  the  lightning,  and  mock 
the  loudest  peals  of  the  thunderstorm;  there  the  gen- 
tler slopes  are  covered  with  magnolias  and  flowering 
forest  trees,  decorated  with  roving  climbers,  and  ring 
with  the  perpetual  note  of  the  whippoorwill ;  there 
the  wholesome  water  gushes  profusely  from  the  earth 
in  transparent  springs ;  snow-white  cascades  glitter  on 
the  hillsides;  and  the  rivers,  shallow,  but  pleasant  to 
the  eye,  rush  through  the  narrow  vales,  which  the 
abundant  strawberry  crimsons,  and  coppices  of 
rhododendron  and  flaming  azalea  adorn.  At  the  fall 
of  the  leaf,  the  fruit  of  the  hickory  and  the  chestnut 
is  thickly  strewn  on  the  ground.  The  fertile  soil 
teems  with  luxuriant  herbage  on  which  the  roe-buck 
fattens ;  the  vivifying  breeze  is  laden  with  fragrance ; 
and  daybreak  is  welcomed  by  the  shrill  cries  of  the 
social  nighthawk  and  the  liquid  carols  of  the  mocking- 
bird. Through  this  lovely  region  were  scattered  the 
little  villages  of  the  Cherokees,  nearly  fifty  in  number, 
each  consisting  of  but  a  few  cabins,  erected  where  the 
bend  in  the  mountain  stream  affords  at  once  a  defense 
and  a  strip  of  alluvial  soil  for  culture"  (History 
United  States,  Volume  3,  pp.  246-47). 

In   1759  the  whole  frontier  of  the  Southern  Prov- 
inces was  threatened  by  the  savages,  and  the  Indian 


THE   INDIAN    WARS  IO9 

scalping  knife  had  already  begun  its  bloody  work  upon 
the  unsuspecting  borderers.     After  the  reduction   of 
the  French  forts  of  Frontenac  and  Duquesne  by  the 
American  forces,  the  Cherokees,  who  were  allies  of 
the   Americans,   on   their   return   home,   appropriated 
some  horses  to  their  own  use  from  the  pastures  of  the 
Virginia    settlers.      Upon    this    the    \'irginians    rose 
agamst   them  and   slew  twelve  or   fourteen   of   their 
warriors.     This  ill-advised  severity  aroused  the  whole 
nation,    and   the   young   warriors    flew   to    arms,    and 
began  an  indiscriminate  slaughter  of  the  white  settlers. 
Governor  Littleton  of  South  Carolina  promptly  called 
out   the  troops   of   the   State,   and   in   this   campaign 
young  Francis  Marion  first  fleshed  his  maiden  sword. 
Col.    Hugh    Waddell,    of    Belmont,    Bladen    County, 
N.   C,  was   sent  to  the   West  to  aid  in  holding  the 
Indians   in   check.     His   headquarters   were   in   Salis- 
bury,  while  his   troops   ranged  through  the   foothills 
of  the  Blue  Ridge.     Under  his  direction  Fort  Dobbs, 
on  the  headwaters  of  the  South  Yadkin,  near  States- 
ville,  was  erected,  and  Fort  Tellico  appears  to  have 
been  another  outpost  in  the  same  region  of  country. 
Colonel    Waddell,    though    not    a    citizen    of    Rowan 
County,  spent  a  considerable  portion  of  his  time  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Salisbury,  and  was  the  owner  of  a 
large  amount  of  lands  in  the  county,  including  a  town 
lot,  over  six  hundred  acres  on  the  south  side  of  Fourth 
Creek,  and  about  seven  hundred  acres  adjoining  the 
south  Hne  of  the  Salisbury  Township  lands,  on  both 
sides  of  Crane   Creek.     His   Fourth   Creek  lands   he 
sold  in  1767  to  Walter  Lindsay,  Esq.,  and  his  lands 


no  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

near  Salisbury  were  sold  in  1793  to  Conrad  Brem 
and  Louis  Beard. 

At  the  defeat  of  General  Braddock,  in  1755,  ]\Iajor 
Hugh  Waddell  appears  as  the  commander  of  two 
Companies  of  North  Carolina  troops,  and  in  the  ex- 
pedition against  Fort  Duquesne,  in  1758,  Major  Wad- 
dell with  some  North  Carolina  troops  serv^ed  under 
General  Washington.  It  was  a  North  Carolina  sol- 
dier, named  John  Rodgers,  a  sergeant-major  in  Wad- 
dell's  troops,  that  captured  the  Indian  whose  informa- 
tion led  to  the  attack  on  and  subsequent  abandonment 
of  that  celebrated  fort  at  the  junction  of  the  Alonon- 
gahela  and  Allegheny  Rivers,  where  Pittsburg  now 
stands.  Rodgers  obtained  a  reward  from  the  Assem- 
bly of  North  Carolina  for  his  meritorious  services. 

In  1759,  Col.  Hugh  Waddell,  with  all  the  provin- 
cials and  all  the  militia  of  Orange,  Anson,  and  Rowan 
Counties,  joined  with  the  troops  of  South  Carolina 
in  an  expedition  against  the  Cherokees.  Fort  Prince 
George,  on  the  banks  of  the  Isundaga  River,  within 
gunshot  of  the  Indian  town  of  Keowee,  was  the  place 
of  rendezvous  for  the  North  Carolina  forces.  The 
Chief  of  the  Cherokees,  Atta  Calla  Culla,  alarmed  at 
the  approach  of  so  numerous  an  army,  sued  for  peace, 
and  a  treaty  was  concluded.  Colonel  Waddell  re- 
turned home,  where  with  five  hundred  militia  kept  in 
constant  service  he  protected  the  frontier  from  the 
incursions  of  the  Cherokees,  whose  hostility  still  man- 
ifested itself  on  every  suitable  occasion,  notwithstand- 
ing the  treaty  of  peace. 


1 


the  indian  wars  iii 

Society  and  Schools 

Such  was  the  condition  of  the  inhabitants  of  West- 
ern North  CaroHna  from  its  first  settlement,  about 
1745,  up  to  the  period  of  the  Revolution.  Moore,  in 
his  History  of  North  Carolina,  describing  this  period 
of  time,  with  great  truth  and  force  says :  "Life  in  the 
eastern  counties  was  full  of  pleasure  and  profit.  The 
Indians,  save  those  of  King  Blunt  on  the  Roanoke, 
were  all  gone  toward  the  setting  sun.  The  rude  cabins 
of  the  first  settlers  had  been  replaced  by  brick  or 
framed  houses.  Hospitahty  was  unbounded,  and  the 
weddings  and  other  social  gatherings  were  largely 
attended.  \\'est  India  rum  and  the  negro  fiddlers 
added  charms  to  the  midnight  revel.  The  strict  mor- 
als of  the  Puritans  and  Quakers  did  not  prevail  in  the 
Albemarle  region.  The  curled  and  powdered  gentle- 
men, and  the  ladies  with  their  big  hoops,  were  never 
so  well  pleased  as  when  walking  a  minuet  or  betting 
at  a  rubber  of  whist.  Horse  races  and  the  pursuit  of 
the  fox  were  also  in  high  favor  as  pastimes.  Very 
different  were  the  men  of  Rowan,  Orange,  and  Cum- 
berland. Swarms  of  Cherokee  warriors  were  just  be- 
yond the  Blue  Ridge  ^lountains,  and  death  by  the 
tomahawk  was  possible  at  any  moment.  Long  per- 
secution had  stimulated  the  zeal  and  enthusiasm  of  the 
Scotch-Irish,  until  religious  devotion  became  the  ab- 
sorbing habit  of  whole  communities.  The  log  churches 
were  to  them  almost  what  Solomon's  temple  had  been 
to  the  Jews.  The  ministers  in  charge  and  the  ruling 
elders   were   followed  implicitly,   both   in  matters   of 


112  HISTORY   OF  ROWAN    COUNTY 

church  and  State"  (School  History,  p.  37).  Those 
were  the  days,  from  1758  until  1766,  when  the  Rev. 
Alexander  Craighead  resided  in  Mecklenburg  County, 
but  extended  his  labors  to  the  settlements  of  Rowan, 
and  laid  the  foundation  of  Thyatira,  Fourth  Creek, 
and  Center  Churches.  The  inhabitants,  being  of  that 
respectable  middle  class  of  society,  equally  removed 
from  the  cultivated  vices  of  the  rich  and  from  the 
ignorant  meannesses  of  the  abject  poor,  generally  pos- 
sessed the  rudiments  of  an  English  education,  and 
could  ''read  and  write,  and  cipher  as  far  as  the  Single 
Rule  of  Three"  with  considerable  accuracy.  The 
German  settlers  brought  their  Luther's  translation  of 
the  Bible  along  with  them,  and  their  "Gemainschaft- 
liches  Gesangbuch,"  or  Union  Hymn  Book,  adapted  to 
the  wants  of  both  Lutherans  and  German  Reformed. 
In  those  days  the  *'old-field  schools"  were  established, 
and  taught  by  some  citizen  whose  knowledge  of  letters 
was  something  above  the  average.  They  obtained  the 
name  of  ''old-field"  schools  because  they  were  fre- 
quently built  on  or  near  an  old  field  or  other  open 
piece  of  ground.  The  open  ground  furnished  a  fine 
place  for  the  games  of  the  boys,  such  as  "town-ball," 
"bull-pen,"  "cat,  "  or  "prisoner's  base,"  while  on  its 
edge  the  rosy-cheeked  lasses  enjoyed  themselves  with 
the  less  laborious  games  of  "blind-man's-bufif,"  "drop- 
the-handkerchief,"  "fox-and-geese,"  "barley-bright," 
and  "chichama-chichama-craney-crow."  The  passing 
traveler  could  easily  identify  the  log  schoolhouse,  by 
the  bell-like  tones  of  mingled  voices  of  the  boys  and 
girls  as  they  studied  their  spelling  and  reading  lessons 


THE   INDIAN    WARS  II3 

aloud—  sometimes  rendering  the  schoolroom  a  very 
babel  of  confused  sounds.  As  the  weather  grew 
warmer — if  the  school  did  not  close  up  for  the  summer 
— the  children  would  devote  themselves  to  the  gentler 
games  of  marbles,  mumble-peg,  or  housekeeping  in 
leafy  arbors,  with  moss  carpets,  beneath  the  spreading 
branches  of  the  trees. 

Academies 
But  the  people  were  not  content  with  the  common 
''old-field  school."  About  1760  a  classical  school  was 
established  at  Bellemont,  near  Col.  Alex.  Osborne's 
residence,  called  the  ''Crowfield  Academy."  The 
location  is  about  two  miles  north  of  Davidson  College, 
on  the  headwaters  of  Rocky  River,  and  in  the  bounds 
of  Center  congregation.  Here  a  number  of  distin- 
guished men,  who  acted  well  their  part  in  their  day, 
received  their  education,  or  were  prepared  for  college. 
Among  these  were  Col.  Adlai  Osborne,  who  was  for  a 
long  time  Clerk  of  Rowan  Superior  Court,  and  a  lead- 
ing man  in  the  Rowan  Committee  of  Safety  at  the 
opening  of  the  Revolution.  Dr.  Samuel  Eusebius 
McCorkle,  the  pastor  of  Thyatira  and  preacher  in 
Salisbury,  and  who  for  a  long  time  conducted  the 
''Zion-Parnassus  Academy,"  near  Thyatira,  also  began 
his  classical  studies  at  ''Crowfield."  Dr.  James  Hall, 
the  soldier-preacher  of  the  Revolution,  the  founder 
and  conductor  of  "Clio's  Nursery  School,"  on  the 
headwaters  of  South  Yadkin,  began  his  literary  course 
at  this  same  institution.  The  same  is  true  in  regard  to 
Dr.  Ephraim  Brevard,  who  is  said  to  be  the  author  of 


114  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN   COUNTY 

the  Mecklenburg  Declaration  of  ^lay  20,  1775.  The 
Rev.  David  Caldwell,  about  1766,  is  said  to  have 
taught  in  the  Crowfield  Academy  for  a  short  season. 
But  he  soon  removed  to  northeastern  Rowan — now 
Guilford — where  after  a  short  time  he  established  a 
school  on  the  headwaters  of  North  Buffalo,  about 
three  miles  from  where  Greensboro  now  stands.  This 
school  was  in  operation  ten  years  before  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence,  and  also  a  number  of  years 
after,  and  it  is  computed  that  there  were  about  fifty 
ministers,  besides  a  large  number  who  entered  the 
other  liberal  professions,  who  were  educated  at  this 
"Log  College"  of  North  Carolina.  The  old-field  schools 
and  a  few  classical  academies  comprised  the  educa- 
tional facilities  of  Western  North  CaroHna  at  this 
time.  But  those  whose  means  would  allow  it  were 
sent  to  complete  their  education  at  Princeton,  or 
"Nassau  Hall,"  as  it  was  then  called.  There,  under 
the  instructions  of  President  \\'itherspoon — the  cleri- 
cal signer  of  the  National  Declaration  of  Independence 
— they  imbibed  not  only  a  knowledge  of  the  liberal 
arts  and  sciences,  but  also  the  principles  of  liberty  and 
independence,  which  brought  forth  such  rich  fruit  a 
few  years  afterwards. 


CHAPTER  XI 


THE  REGULATION 

The  echoes  of  the  Indian  war-whoop  had  not  died 
away  before  the  mutterings  of  another  storm  was 
heard  over  the  hills  and  valleys  of  Orange  and  Rowan 
Counties.  This  is  what  is  known  in  the  history  of 
North  CaroHna  as  the  war  of  the  "The  Regulation." 
It  can  scarcely  be  called  a  war,  and  yet  it  rises  above 
the  dignity  of  a  riot.  It  was  rather  the  first  blind,  un- 
organized rising  of  the  spirit  of  liberty  against  a  long 
train  of  oppressive  acts,  for  which  there  was  no 
remedy  and  of  which  there  appeared  to  be  no  end.  As 
the  men  of  Rowan  were  to  some  extent  connected  with 
this  struggle,  some  on  each  side,  it  will  not  be  amiss  to 
give  a  brief  sketch  of  its  rise  and  sad  termination — 
though  a  detailed  account  would  exceed  the  limits  pro- 
posed in  these  papers. 

As  the  first  factor  in  this  problem  we  have  a  liberty- 
loving  population,  who  came  to  the  wilds  of  North 
Carolina  for  the  express  purpose  of  escaping  from 
pohtical  and  ecclesiastical  oppression.  Such  were  the 
early  refugees  from  Mrginia,  who  settled  on  the  Albe- 
marle Sound;  such  the  hardy  Scotch  who  came  from 
the  Highlands  to  the  banks  of  the  Cape  Fear;  such  the 
Swiss  and  Palatines  on  the  Xeuse  and  Trent ;  and  in  a 
peculiar  sense  were  the  Scotch-Irish  and  Germans  of 


Il6  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

ancient  Rowan,  Orange,  and  ^^lecklenburg.  These,  or 
their  fathers,  had  once  felt  the  weight  of  the  oppres- 
sor's iron  hand,  crushing  out  their  Hberties — almost 
their  manhood;  and  having  once  suffered  they  were 
jealous  of  the  approaches  of  tyranny  in  their  new 
homes. 

As  the  next  factor  we  have  the  most  wretched  sys- 
tem of  misgovernment  of  modern  times.  This  mis- 
government  began  with  the  cumbrous  and  Utopian 
Constitution  prepared  by  Locke  and  Shaftesbury,  hav- 
ing in  it  the  germs  of  a  provincial  nobility  —  land- 
graves and  caciques — totally  uncongenial  to  the  wild 
and  free  spirit  of  the  people.  And  such  governors  as 
Seth  Sothel,  George  Burrington,  and  Richard  Everard 
were  a  reproach  to  humanity  and  a  stench  in  the  nos- 
trils of  decency.  The  testy  and  prosy  Irishman,  Gov- 
ernor Dobbs,  the  warlike  and  ambitious  Tryon,  and 
the  incapable  Josiah  Martin,  who  enacted  the  last 
scenes  in  the  drama  of  the  royal  government,  were 
peculiarly  calculated  to  irritate  and  annoy  the  people, 
to  aggravate  and  sting  to  rebellion  a  population  far 
less  independent  and  intelligent  than  the  inhabitants  of 
North  Carolina.  Nor  could  the  prudence  of  such  gov- 
ernors as  Drummond,  Archdale,  and  Johnstone  coun- 
teract the  deep-seated  opposition  of  the  people  to  the 
oppressive  and  tyrannical  legislation  dictated  by  the 
royal  cabinet  of  England,  and  enacted  by  an  obse- 
quious Colonial  Legislature. 

The  struggle  between  the  Province  of  North  Car- 
olina and  its  foreign  rulers  began  one  hundred  years 
before  the  yoke  was  thrown  off  —  in  1669,  when  the 


THE   REGULATION  11/ 

''Grand  [Model"  was  forced  upon  an  unwilling  people, 
and  when  the  obnoxious  Xavigation  Act  crippled  and 
strangled  the  commerce  of  the  infant  colony.  The 
struggle  became  more  serious,  when  the  "Parish 
Laws"  were  enacted,  disallowing  all  marriages  to  be 
celebrated  by  dissenting  ministers,  and  taxing  the 
country  for  the  support  of  a  religious  system  which 
was  distasteful  to  an  overwhelming  majority  of  the 
people.  The  obstinacy  and  nepotism  of  Governor 
Dobbs  added  fuel  to  the  flame.  Governor  Tryon  was 
not  a  bigot,  but  his  tastes  and  his  expenses  were 
princely.  Aided  by  the  blandishment  of  his  elegant 
wife  and  her  bewitching  sister,  ]\Iiss  Esther  \\'ake, 
Tryon  secured  from  the  cringing  General  Assembly 
an  appropriation  of  fifteen  thousand  pounds  sterling 
(£15,000),  equal  to  nearly  seventy-five  thousand  dol- 
lars, for  the  erection  of  a  palace  at  Newbern  more 
suitable  for  a  prince  of  the  blood  royal  than 
for  the  governor  of  an  infant  provincial  colony. 
This  palace  was  said  to  exceed  in  magnificence 
any  structure  of  that  day  found  upon  the 
American  continent,  and  its  erection  rendered 
a  large  increase  of  the  taxes  necessary.  But 
Tryon  never  did  things  by  halves.  He  must  needs 
make  a  military  expedition  to  the  land  of  the  Chero- 
kees,  in  order  to  run  a  dividing  line  of  a  few  miles  in 
length,  and  returned  with  the  significant  title,  bestowed 
by  the  Indians,  of  "The  Great  Wolf  of  North  Car- 
olina." All  this  was  very  expensive,  and  to  supply 
the  means,  not  only  were  the  direct  taxes  increased, 
but  the  governor  required  a  share  of  the  fees  allowed 


Il8  HISTORY  OF   ROWAX    COUNTY 

to  the  various  crown  officials  for  their  services.  The 
crown  officers,  in  their  turn,  taking  the  cue  from  the 
Governor,  doubled  or  tripled  their  charges  for  every 
act  done  for  the  people.  The  lawyers  also  refused  to 
serve  their  clients  for  the  established  fees,  and  thus 
closed  up  all  the  avenues  to  the  temple  of  justice.  In 
this  emergency  there  arose  the  two  persons  necessary 
to  bring  on  a  collision.  These  two  persons  were  a 
poet  or  ballad-monger,  and  a  popular  leader.  The 
rhymester  was  named  Rednap  Howell,  a  native  of 
New  Jersey,  who  occupied  the  position  of  old-field 
schoolmaster  somewhere  on  Deep  River.  He  was  the 
author  of  about  forty  songs  or  ballads,  in  which  he 
mercilessly  lampooned  the  extortioners  and  crown 
officers  of  the  day.  Prominent  among  these  were 
Edmund  Fanning,  Esq.,  of  Hillsboro,  the  Court  Clerk, 
and  son-in-law  of  Governor  Tryon,  and  John  Frohock, 
Clerk  and  Register  in  Salisbury.  The  following 
effusion  of  Howell's  upon  these  two  officers  aft'ords  a 
fair  specimen  of  his  political  rhymes. 

Says  Frohock  to  Fanning.  "To  tell  the  plain  truth, 
When  I  came  to  this  country  I  was  but  a  youth. 
My  father  sent  for  me  :    I  wa'nt  worth  a  cross, 
And  then  my  first  study  was  to   steal   for   a  horse. 
I  quickly  got  credit,  and  then  ran  away. 
And  haven't  paid  for  him  to  this  very  day." 

Says  Fanning  to  Frohock,  "  'Tis  folly  to  lie, 
I  rode  an  old  mare  that  was  blind  of  an  eye : 
Five  shillings  in  money  I  had  in  my  purse ; 
My  coat,  it  was  patched,  but  not  much  the  worse; 
But  now  we've  got  rich,  and  it's  very  well  known, 
That  we'll  do  very  well  if  they'll  let  us  alone."' 


THE    REGULATION  II9 

By  such  rhymes  as  these,  sung  and  repeated  from 
plantation  to  plantation,  from  the  Eno  to  the  Yadkin ; 
called  for  at  every  house-raising,  log-rolling,  and  corn- 
shucking,  at  every  Court  and  vendue,  at  every  wedding 
and  funeral,  the  minds  of  the  people  were  wrought 
up  to  a  high  pitch  of  excitement  and  indignation 
against  the  crown  officers  and  the  lawyers. 

When  this  leaven  had  worked  sufficiently,  a  popular 
leader  arose  in  the  person  of  Herman  Husbands,  from 
Sandy  Creek,  near  the  line  between  Guilford  and 
Rowan — now  in  Randolph  County.  Husbands  was  by 
birth  a  Pennsylvania  Quaker,  and  said  to  have  been  a 
relative  of  Benjamin  Franklin.  He  possessed  great 
shrewdness  of  character,  a  naturally  vigorous  mind, 
and  by  boldly  protesting  against  extortion  upon  all 
occasions  he  won  the  regard  of  the  multitude.  By 
the  influence,  and  under  the  guidance  of  this  man, 
many  of  the  people  of  Orange  were  induced  to  asso- 
ciate themselves  together  in  bands,  sometimes  called 
"the  mob/'  sometimes  the  "Sons  of  Liberty,"  and  at 
last  the  "Regulators."  The  first  general  or  public 
meeting  of  Regulators  was  held  at  Maddock's  Mill,  in 
Orange  County,  October  lo,  1766.  They  proposed  to 
consult  concerning  their  grievances  and  the  proper 
mode  of  securing  redress.  Fanning  and  other  crown 
officers  were  invited  to  be  present,  but  refused  to 
come,  on  some  pretext  or  other.  From  this  time 
sympathy  with  the  "Sons  of  Liberty"  spread  far  and 
wide,  and  many  people,  not  only  in  Orange  and 
Guilford,  but  in  Rowan,  ^Mecklenburg,  and  Anson 
Counties,  were  ready  to  venture  into  the  same  perils 


I20  HISTORY   OF   ROWAX   COUNTY 

ous  path.  They  first  stated  their  grievances  to  the 
Governor,  and  appealed  to  him  for  rehef.  He 
promised  what  they  asked,  and  ordered  a  schedule 
of  fees  to  be  made  out  and  posted  up  for  public  inspec- 
tion. But  the  officers  laughed  in  their  sleeves  at 
the  gullibility  of  the  people,  and  went  on  demanding 
the  same  or  larger  fees.  At  last  a  true  bill  was  found 
against  Edmund  Fanning,  for  extortion  in  no  less  than 
six  instances.  When  the  trial  came  on  at  Hillsboro, 
in  1768^  Fanning  pleaded  guilty  in  each  count,  and 
was  fined — six  pence  and  costs.  Such  a  mockery  of 
justice,  under  the  very  eye  of  Tryon — for  he  was  pres- 
ent— and  in  the  case  of  his  son-in-law,  plainly  demon- 
strated that  no  relief  was  to  be  expected  from  the 
Courts  of  Justice.  The  very  foundation  of  justice  was 
corrupt,  and  poured  forth  streams  of  bribery  and  op- 
pression. The  Regulators  were  maddened,  and  com- 
mitted several  acts  of  violence  and  lawlessness  upon 
the  person  of  Fanning,  and  threatened  to  control  the 
Court  by  violence,  and  at  their  suggestion  many  re- 
fused to  pay  any  taxes.  But  Governor  Tr}^on  was  also 
alive  to  his  own  interest,  and  began  to  put  into  opera- 
tion measures  to  allay  the  irritation  of  the  public  mind, 
and  overawe  the  disaflfected.  One  of  these  measures 
was  a  journey,  or  progress  to  the  western  counties, 
with  a  body  of  troops  escorting  him.  In  July,  1768, 
he  marched  to  the  Yadkin  River,  and  crossing  that 
stream  reached  Salisbury  on  the  eighteenth  of  Au- 
gust. After  a  brief  stay  he  visited  Captain  Phifer  in 
Mecklenburg  (now  Cabarrus),  and  from  thence  went 
to  Captain  Polk's,  returning  to  Salisbury^  by  the  twen- 


THE    REGULATION  121 

ty-fifth,  in  order  to  review  the  troops  or  militia  of  the 
county.  Here  Col.  Alexander  Osborne  called  upon  His 
Excellency  for  instructions  concerning  the  parade,  and 
read  to  him  a  letter  from  the  Rev.  Messrs.  David 
Caldwell,  Hugh  McAden,  Henry  Patillo,  and  James 
Creswell,  Presbyterians,  touching  the  conduct  of  the 
Regulators.  These  ministers  labored  in  Guilford, 
Orange,  and  Granville  Counties,  and  as  Colonel  Os- 
borne and  the  four  ministers  were  of  the  same  church 
it  is  presumed  that  the  tenor  of  the  letter  would  be 
such  as  not  to  irritate  the  Governor  against  them.  In 
fact,  while  these  ministers  sympathized  with  the  peo- 
ple in  their  oppression,  they  appear  to  have  done  all  in 
their  power  to  prevent  violence,  and  secure  the  resto- 
ration of  peace  and  harmony. 

Eleven  companies  appeared  in  Salisbury  in  this  re- 
view —  all  except  Captain  Knox's  Company,  whose 
sympathies  appear  to  have  been  decidedly  in  favor  of 
the  Regulators.  Colonel  Wheeler  states  that  this  Cap- 
tain Knox  was  the  maternal  grandfather  of  James  K. 
Polk,  the  President  in  after  years  of  the  United  States. 
President  Polk  was  born  in  ^lecklenburg  County,  ten 
miles  south  of  Charlotte,  and  his  maternal  grand- 
father, James  Knox,  resided  also  in  Mecklenburg,  in 
the  Hopewell  region,  and  it  does  not  appear  probable 
that  he  was  the  Captain  Knox  of  the  Rowan  militia 
Company  that  failed  to  appear  at  the  Salisbury  re- 
view; still  it  may  have  been  the  same.  Some  of  the 
Polk  family,  relatives  of  the  President,  were  in  after 
years  citizens  of  Salisbury,  and  their  dust  lies  under 
marble  slabs  in  Oakgrove  Cemetery,  in  that  city. 


122  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

From  the  Salisbury  review  Governor  Tryon  went 
to  see  the  spot  where  in  1746  the  commissioners  left 
off  running  the  dividing  line  between  the  King's  lands 
and  Earl  Granville's  lands.  He  found  the  place  about 
five  or  six  hundred  yards  east  of  Coldwater  Creek — on 
the  present  dividing  line  between  Rowan  and  Cabar- 
rus. He  then  paid  a  visit  to  Capt.  John  Paul  Barrin- 
ger,  in  Mecklenburg  (now  Cabarrus),  drank  freely  of 
the  Captain's  rich  wine,  and  tried  his  hand  at  mowing, 
with  a  Dutch  scythe  doubtless,  the  green  meadows  of 
Dutch  Buft'alo.  The  Governor  then  visited  Col. 
Moses  Alexander's,  on  Rocky  River,  and  returning  to 
Salisbury  spent  eight  days  in  the  town  and  surround- 
ing country.  A  gentlem.an,  a  soldier,  a  genial  com- 
panion, his  visit  no  doubt  was  one  reason  why  Rowan 
County  did  not  enter  more  fully  into  the  Regulation 
struggle. 

But  while  the  policy  of  the  Governor  stayed  for  a 
season  the  rushing  of  the  torrent  of  rebellion,  it  did 
not  avert  the  final  catastrophe.  Alatters  grew  worse 
and  worse,  and  in  the  spring  of  1771  the  Governor 
left  Xewbern  a  second  time  with  a  body  of  troops  to 
enforce  the  laws  and  disperse  the  Regulators.  At 
Tryon's  approach  the  Regulators  were  massed  near 
the  Great  Alamance  River,  and  here  the  long  delayed 
collision  took  place,  on  the  sixteenth  of  May  It  is 
not  necessary  in  sketches  of  Rowan  to  enter  into  the 
details  of  this  battle — if  it  can  be  called  a  battle ;  for 
the  Regulators  were  not  organized  as  a  military  force, 
and  had  no  officers  beyond  the  rank  of  a  captain.  ]Many 
of  them  were  unarmed  and  seemed  to  be  rather  specta- 


THE    REGULATION  I23 

tors  than  soldiers,  and  the  rest  were  armed  with  their 
hunting  pieces,  with  enough  ammunition  for  a  day's 
sport  in  the  woods.  So  perfectly  unprepared  were 
they  to  engage  with  the  troops  of  the  Governor  that 
the  Rev.  David  Caldwell,  who  was  present,  after 
passing  backward  and  forward  several  times  vainly 
trying  to  prevent  bloodshed,  at  last  advised  the  Regula- 
tors to  submit  to  any  conditions  they  could  obtain,  or 
disperse,  rather  than  engage  in  the  hopeless  contest. 

It  is  said  that  Colonel  Fanning,  better  acquainted 
with  the  logomachy  of  the  courtroom  than  with  the 
dangerous  contests  of  the  battlefield,  withdrew  his 
Company  at  the  beginning  of  the  firing.  Husbands, 
the  leader  of  the  Regulators,  is  reported  to  have 
followed  his  example,  and  saved  himself  by  flight. 
Thus  the  two  men  who  did  more  than  any  others  to 
excite  to  conflict  left  their  adherents  to  fight  it  out 
without  their  presence. 

Some  time  previous  to  the  conflict  Governor  Tryon 
sent  General  Hugh  Waddell  to  Salisbury  with  a  divi- 
sion of  troops  from  Bladen,  Cumberland,  and  the 
western  counties.  These  troops  were  to  remain  at 
Salisbury  until  a  supply  of  powder,  flints,  blankets, 
etc.,  from  Charleston  should  reach  them.  But  the 
"Cabarrus  Blackboys"  as  they  have  been  called,  inter- 
cepted the  convoy  at  Phifer's  mill,  three  miles  west  of 
Concord,  unloaded  the  wagons,  stove  in  the  kegs  of 
powder,  tore  up  the  blankets,  and  forming  a  huge  pile 
blew  up  the  whole.  The  military  stores  failing  to  reach 
him,  General  Waddell,  with  two  hundred  and  fifty 
men,  left  SaHsbury  and  attempted  to  join  Tryon  in 


124  HISTORY  OF   ROWAX   COUNTY 

Orange  or  Guilford  County.  But  when  he  reached 
Potts'  Creek,  about  two  miles  east  of  the  Yadkin,  he 
was  confronted  by  a  large  force  of  Rowan  Regulators, 
who  threatened  to  cut  his  troops  in  pieces  if  he  offered 
to  join  the  army  under  Tryon.  Calling  a  council  of 
officers,  he  discovered  that  the  Regulators  out- 
numbered him  by  far,  and  that  his  men  had  no  desire 
to  engage  in  battle  with  their  brethren.  He  wisely 
resolved  to  fall  back  across  the  river  to  Salisbury.  This 
was  on  the  tenth  of  Alay,  1771,  six  days  before  the 
battle  of  Great  Alamance. 

A  few  days  after  the  battle,  Tryon  marched  to  the 
east  side  of  the  Yadkin,  where  he  effected  a  junction 
with  General  Waddell,  and  extricated  him  from  his 
painful  position. 

I  must  not  omit  to  mention  that,  on  the  seventh  of 
■March,  1771,  a  public  meeting  was  held  in  Salisbury, 
probably  just  before  General  Waddell  arrived  here, 
at  which  a  large  and  influential  committee  was  ap- 
pointed to  meet  the  clerk,  sheriff,  and  other  crown 
officers,  and  require  them  to  disgorge  their  unlawful 
fees.  These  officers  agreed  to  the  demand  of  the  com- 
mittee, and  signed  a  paper  to  that  effect.  ^Matthew 
Locke  and  Herman  Husbands,  with  others,  were  ap- 
pointed on  the  committee  to  receive  and  distribute  the 
unlawful  fees,  but  it  is  doubtful  whether  any  were 
ever  returned.  After  the  affair  at  Alamance,  the  rul- 
ing party  acquired  additional  power,  and  no  doubt  for 
a  season  longer  had  everything  their  own  way. 

At  this  day,  as  in  that,  it  is  difficult  to  make  a  proper 
estimate  of  the  character  of  the  Regulation.  In  Rowan, 


THE    REGULATION  1 25 

Anson,  and  ^Mecklenburg,  public  opinion  was  divided. 
On  the  Governor's  side,  either  actively  or  in  sympathy, 
were     such     men     as     Colonel     Waddell,      Samuel 
Spencer,  Richard  Caswell,  W'aightstill  Avery,  Griffith 
Rutherford,  W  m.  Lindsay,  Adlai  Osborne,  John  Ashe, 
and  others  of  the  noblest  men  of  the  State,  who  after- 
wards proved  their  devotion  to  the  cause  of  liberty. 
While  no  doubt  they  were  opposed  to  the  exactions  of 
the  officials,  they  still  adhered  to  the  regular  adminis- 
tration  of   the   law   in   the   hands   of   the   constituted 
authorities.     The    struggle    can    neither    be    properly 
characterized  as  the  noble  uprising  of  an  oppressed 
people  in  behalf  of  liberty,  nor  condemned  as  a  mob 
or  insurrection.     It  would  seem  rather  to  have  been  a 
good   cause,  prematurely,   rashly,   and   violently   con- 
ducted, and  led  on  by  men  incapable  of  allaying  or  con- 
trolling the  storm  they  had  evoked,  and  the  effect  was 
disastrous,  for  Governor  Try-on  so  entangled  the  con- 
sciences of  many  of  them  with  oaths  of  allegiance, 
that  when  the  real  struggle  came,  six  years  later,  a 
great  number   of   the   Regulators   felt  constrained  to 
cast  in  their  lot  with  the  Tories. 


CHAPTER  XII 


CAUSES   OF  THE   REVOLUTION 

It  has  been  truthfully  said  that  the  "Revolution" 
took  place  before  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
and  that  the  document  proclaimed  in  Philadelphia  on 
the  Fourth  of  July,  1776,  was  simply  a  public  recogni- 
tion of  a  state  already  existing.  The  skirmishes  at 
Lexington  and  Concord  took  place  April,  1775;  the 
battle  of  Bunker  Hill  in  May  of  the  same  year; 
while  Boston  was  evacuated  by  the  British  in  1776. 
In  North  Carolina  the  battle  of  Moore's  Creek  Bridge, 
between  the  Patriots  and  the  Tories,  was  fought  in 
February,  1776,  and  in  consequence  Lord  Cornwallis, 
who  was  hovering  around  the  mouth  of  the  Cape  Fear, 
took  his  departure,  carrying  away  with  him  Josiah 
Martin,  the  last  royal  Governor  of  this  Province.  In 
fact  the  Revolution  was  no  sudden  occurrence,  but  the 
result  of  a  long  continued  series  of  events,  culminating 
in  the  independence  of  the  State  and  country.  It  may 
be  useful  to  take  a  glance  at  the  events  that  led  up  to 
this  wondrous  consummation,  especially  to  dispel  the 
illusion  of  those  who  have  been  told  and  who  believe 
that  nothing  worth  the  expenditure  of  the  blood  and 
treasure  required  was  achieved  by  the  \\^ar  of  the 
Revolution. 


128  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN   COUNTY 

The  grievance  of  the  Americans,  though  appearing 
in  different  forms,  consisted  in  the  despotic  principle 
that  a  people  may  be  taxed  without  being  represented 
in  the  lawmaking  assemblies.  While  every  borough 
and  shire  in  England,  Wales,  and  Scotland  was  rep- 
resented in  the  English  House  of  Commons,  not  a 
single  representative,  delegate,  or  commissioner  could 
appear  in  that  body  from  the  thirteen  colonies  of 
America.  And  yet  the  Parliament  took  complete  and 
sovereign  control  of  many  of  the  most  vital  interests 
of  the  colonies.  By  the  odious  ''Navigation  Act"  of 
the  British  Parliament,  no  production  of  Europe,  Asia, 
or  Africa  could  be  brought  into  the  colonies  except  in 
British  ships,  commanded  by  British  captains,  and 
manned  by  British  crews,  nor  could  the  exports  of  the 
colonies  be  removed  in  any  other  way.  The  design 
of  this  law  was  to  ''protect"  the  British  marine  mer- 
chant service,  and  the  design  was  effectual,  since  no 
other  nation  could  underbid  their  own  vessels.  But  it 
left  the  colonies  at  the  mercy  of  the  grasping  ship- 
owners. 

But  even  this  indirect  taxation  was  not  enough. 
England  had  expended  large  sums  in  her  recent  wars, 
and  especially  in  the  French  and  Indian  wars  waged 
in  behalf  of  the  colonies.  In  return,  the  mother 
country,  perhaps  not  unreasonably,  expected  the  col- 
onies to  bear  their  portion  of  the  burden.  And  no 
doubt,  if  the  matter  had  been  presented  in  a  proper 
form,  the  colonies  would  have  consented  to  tax  them- 
selves to  meet  the  expenses  incurred  for  their  pro- 
tection.    But  when  England  proposed  to  lay  this  bur- 


CAUSES   OF  THE   REVOLUTION  I29 

den  on  them  without  so  much  as  consulting  them  upon 
the  subject,  the  universal  opinion  of  the  Americans 
was  that  it  was  a  tyrannical  invasion  of  the  rights  of 
free  men,  and  that  if  England  could  take  any  part  of 
their  property  without  their  consent,  she  could  take 
the  whole  upon  the  same  grounds ;  and  that  if  they 
submitted  to  such  taxation,  the  Americans  virtually 
became  the  slaves  of  the  people  from  whom  they 
descended. 

On  the  twenty-second  of  March,  1765,  the  Parlia- 
ment of  Great  Britain  adopted  what  was  called  the 
''Stamp  Act,"  requiring  all  contracts,  notes,  bonds, 
deeds,  writs,  and  other  public  documents,  to  be  written 
on  government  paper,  which  had  a  "stamp"  on  it,  and 
which  was  to  be  sold  at  a  high  price  by  government 
agents,  and  from  the  sale  of  which  a  large  revenue 
was  expected  to  flow  into  the  English  treasury.  The 
passage  of  this  "Act"  produced  great  excitement  in 
all  the  colonies,  and  in  none  more  than  in  North  Car- 
olina. The  General  Assembly  of  North  Carolina  was 
in  session  when  the  intelligence  of  the  passage  of  this 
Act  arrived,  and  no  doubt  would  have  taken  some  de- 
cided action  upon  the  matter  had  not  Governor  Tryon 
prudently  prorogued  that  body  after  a  session  of 
fifteen  days.  John  Ashe,  the  Speaker  of  the  House, 
plainly  informed  the  Governor  that  the  Act  would  be 
resisted  "unto  blood  and  death."  And  when,  early  in 
the  year  1766,  the  British  sloop  of  war  "Diligence," 
with  the  odious  "stamps"  on  board,  arrived  in  the 
Cape  Fear,  Cols.  John  Ashe  and  Hugh  Waddell,  with 
their    respective    militia    regiments    under    arms,    in- 


130  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

formed  the  commander  of  the  ship  that  the  landing 
of  the  "stamps"  would  be  resisted.  In  the  meantime, 
a  boat  of  the  ''Diligence"  was  captured  and  borne 
through  the  streets  of  W^ilmington  at  the  head  of  a 
procession.  Colonel  Ashe  also  demanded  of  Governor 
Tryon,  the  stamp-master — one  James  Houston,  who 
was  lodged  in  the  Governor's  house,  and  upon  refusal 
to  deliver  him  up  threatened  to  fire  the  house.  Upon 
this  the  stamp-master  was  produced,  and  compelled 
to  take  a  solemn  oath  that  he  would  not  attempt  to 
dispose  of  the  obnoxious  stamps.  This  ended  the 
matter  of  the  stamps,  for  the  Act  was  repealed  by 
Parliament,  in  March,  1766. 

The  "Stamp  Act"  was  the  cause  of  the  first  General 
Congress  of  the  American  Colonies,  which  was  held 
in  the  City  of  New  York,  June  6,  1765.  This  con- 
vention or  congress  was  held  by  the  agreement  of  a 
number  of  the  colonies,  at  the  suggestion  of  their  re- 
spective Assemblies ;  but  the  Provinces  of  New  Hamp- 
shire, Virginia,  North  Carolina,  and  Georgia  were  not 
represented  in  it,  for  the  reason  that  their  respective 
Legislatures  were  not  in  session  in  time  to  take  the 
necessary  steps  for  the  appointment  of  delegates. 

Although  the  English  Parliament  repealed  the 
^'Stamp  Act,"  they  did  not  abandon  their  claim  to  tax 
the  colonies,  but  directly  asserted  it.  And  so  in  1767 
another  Act,  not  less  an  invasion  of  colonial  liberty, 
was  adopted.  This  was  the  famous  "Bill"  imposing 
a  tax  on  glass,  paper,  painters'  colors,  and  tea,  im- 
ported into  the  colonies.  This  Act  being  resisted  was 
followed  by  other  Acts  of  unfriendly  legislation,  such 


CAUSES   OF   THE   REVOLUTION  I3I 

as  the  suspension  of  the  Legislative  Assembly  of  New 
York,  and  closing  the  port  of  Boston.  In  consequence 
of  this,  the  "General  Court"  of  Massachusetts  sent  a 
circular  to  the  other  colonies,  asking  their  co-operation 
in  devising  some  method  of  obtaining  a  redress  of 
grievances.  This  circular  was  laid  before  the  General 
x\ssembly  of  North  Carolina,  in  November,  1768,  by 
Col.  John  Harvey,  the  Speaker  of  the  House,  but  no 
decisive  steps  appear  to  have  been  taken.  In  fact,  the 
Governor  kept  his  watchful  eye  upon  the  Assembly 
and  stood  ready  to  prorogue  its  sessions  at  the  first 
indication  of  the  spirit  of  union  and  independence. 
Thus  it  happened  that  North  Carolina  was  not  repre- 
sented in  the  first  Provincial  Congress  of  the  Colo- 
nies, nor  indeed  until  the  General  Congress  assembled 
in  Philadelphia,  in  September,  1774.  The  way  the 
"Provincial  Congress"  of  North  Carolina  came  into 
existence  at  the  last  was  as  follows:  In  1773,  the 
House  of  Burgesses  of  Mrginia  resolved  upon  estab- 
lishing committees  of  correspondence  between  the 
several  colonies,  and  sent  forth  circulars  to  the  vari- 
ous Provincial  Legislatures.  The  Virginia  "Circular," 
as  well  as  letters  from  some  of  the  other  Provinces, 
was  laid  before  the  North  Carolina  Assembly  by 
Speaker  Harvey  in  this  same  year,  and  the  Assembly 
seized  the  opportunity  to  appoint  a  committee  to  watch 
the  proceedings  of  the  English  Parliament  and  to 
concert  with  the  other  Provinces  measures  for  the 
general  defense.  The  committee  appointed  consisted 
of  Speaker  Harvey,  Richard  Caswell,  Samuel  John- 
ston, Hewes,  Vail,  Harnett,  Hooper,  John  Ashe,  and 


132  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

Howe.  AMien  the  \'irginia  House  of  Burgesses  pro- 
posed the  holding-  of  another  General  Congress,  after 
the  closing  of  the  port  of  Boston,  Governor  ]\Iartin 
intimated  that  he  would  repeat  Governor  Tryon's  old 
trick  of  proroguing  the  North  Carolina  Assembly,  and 
thus  prevent  the  Province  from  being  represented  in 
that  Congress.  But  the  brave  and  fearless  John  Har- 
vey, though  fast  sinking  into  the  grave  by  incurable 
disease,  resolved  if  necessary  to  sacrifice  his  few  re- 
maining days  by  a  counterstroke  of  policy.  He  there- 
fore issued  a  proclamation  over  his  own  signature, 
calling  upon  the  people  to  elect  members  to  a  Provin- 
cial Congress  that  would  not  be  subject  to  the  Gov- 
ernor's orders,  but  responsible  only  to  the  people.  Our 
children  have  been  taught  to  admire  the  courage  of 
John  Hancock,  who  signed  the  Declaration  in  letters 
so  large  that  all  the  world  might  read  it,  and  of 
Charles  Carroll,  who  added  ''of  Carrollton"  to  his 
name,  to  prevent  the  possibility  of  being  confounded 
with  another  Charles  Carroll.  But  who  has  paused  a 
moment  to  tell  them  of  the  heroic  Col.  John  Harvey, 
of  Perquimans  County,  N.  C,  who  dared,  in  defiance 
of  Governor  ]\Iartin  and  the  royal  authorities,  to  issue 
a  proclamation,  inviting  the  people  to  assume  their 
rights  as  free  men,  and  join  with  the  other  Provinces 
in  concerted  action?  The  act  was  performed,  not 
under  the  pressure  of  enthusiasm,  or  in  the  midst  of  a 
patriotic  crowd  of  sympathizers,  but  in  the  seclusion 
of  a  quiet  home,  under  the  united  pressure  of  the  in- 
firmities of  age  and  enfeebling  disease!  He  did  not 
live  to  see  the  final  results  of  the  impending  struggle, 


CAUSES   OF  THE   REVOLUTION  1 33 

but  sank  into  the  grave  just  as  the  storm  of  the  Revo- 
lution burst  upon  the  country.  His  name  and  his 
services  deserve  a  grateful  remembrance. 

In  pursuance  of  the  "proclamation"  of  Harvey,  the 
Assembly  of  1774  was  supplemented  by  another  body 
called  a  '^Congress."  Both  bodies  were  composed,  gen- 
erally, of  the  same  members,  and  Colonel  Harvey  was 
chosen  ''Speaker"  of  the  Assembly,  as  usual,  and 
"^loderator"  of  the  Congress.  The  Congress  met  in 
Newbern  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  August,  1774,  and 
was  composed  of  brave  and  judicious  men,  quite  a 
number  of  whom  are  distinguished  in  the  annals  of  the 
State.  On  the  list  we  find  the  names  of  Samuel  Spen- 
cer of  Anson,  Robert  Howe  of  Brunswick,  Samuel 
Johnston  of  Chowan,  Richard  Caswell  of  Dobbs, 
Thomas  Person  of  Granville,  Willie  Jones  of  Halifax, 
John  Ashe  and  \A*illiam  Hooper  of  New  Hanover, 
John  Harvey  of  Perquimans,  and  Abner  Nash  of 
Newbern.  Rowan  County  was  represented  in  this 
Congress  by  William  Kennon,  Aloses  Winslow,  and 
Samuel  Young. 

On  the  third  day  of  their  session,  August  2.y,  1774, 
the  Congress  adopted  twenty-five  resolutions,  that  em- 
body the  principles  of  independence  and  resistance  to 
tyranny.  These  resolutions  prudently  affirmed  a  loyal 
regard  for  the  British  constitution,  and  devotion  to  the 
House  of  Hanover,  but  at  the  same  time  declared  that 
allegiance  should  secure  protection;  that  no  person 
should  be  taxed  without  his  own  consent,  either  per- 
sonal or  by  representation;  that  the  tax  on  tea  was 
illegal  and  oppressive ;  that  the  closing  of  the  port  of 


134  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

Boston,  and  sending  persons  to  England  to  be  tried  for 
acts  committed  in  the  colonies,  were  unconstitutional; 
and  that  it  was  the  duty  of  our  people  to  cease  all 
trade  with  the  mother  country,  or  any  Province  that  re- 
fused to  co-operate  in  measures  for  the  general  wel- 
fare. They  also  approved  the  movement  for  a  Gen- 
eral Congress  in  Philadelphia,  in  September  following, 
and  appointed  \\'illiam  Hooper,  Joseph  Hewes,  and 
Richard  Caswell  to  represent  this  Province  in  said 
General  Congress.  After  authorizing  ]\Ioderator  Har- 
vey, or  in  case  of  his  death  Samuel  Johnston,  to  call  the 
Congress  together,  if  occasion  should  require  it,  the 
body  adjourned.  In  the  spring  of  the  year  1775,  the 
Provincial  Congress  met  again  in  Xewbern,  and  Rowan 
sent  as  deputies  Griffith  Rutherford,  \\^illiam  Sharpe, 
and  William  Kennon.  At  subsequent  meetings  of 
this  Congress,  at  Hillsboro  and  Halifax,  Rowan  was 
represented  by  ]\Iatthew  Locke,  James  Smith,  and 
John  Brevard. 


CHAPTER  XIII 


MEMBERS  OF  THE  PROVINCIAL  CONGRESS 

In  the  last  chapter  it  was  mentioned  that  Rowan 
County  was  represented  in  the  Provincial  Congress  by 
Griffith  Rutherford,  James  Smith,  Matthew  Locke, 
Moses  Winslow,  William  Kennon,  William  Sharpe, 
Samuel  Young,  and  John  Brevard.  These  were  doubt- 
less the  most  influential  and  prominent  men  in  the 
county,  chosen,  not  from  party  prejudice,  but  because 
they  possessed  the  confidence  of  their  fellow-citizens. 
It  will  doubtless  be  interesting,  after  the  lapse  of  a 
hundred  years,  to  gather  up,  and  reflect  upon,  the  his- 
tory and  the  character  of  the  men  who  exercised  such 
an  influence  upon  public  affairs. 

It  will  be  observed,  as  we  progress,  that  they  were 
chosen  from  different  sections  of  the  county,  and  dif- 
ferent settlements.  In  those  early  days  the  country 
was  not  filled  up  with  farms  and  families,  as  now,  but 
the  people  gathered  in  settlements,  where  lands  were 
most  fertile,  and  society  was  considered  most  desirable. 
Prominent  among  these  settlements  was  the  Grant's 
Creek  region,  stretching  from  near  the  Mecklenburg 
(now  Cabarrus)  line,  along  the  west  side  of  SaHsbury, 
to  the  Yadkin  River,  about  two  miles  above  Trading 
Ford.  This  region  was  filled  up  with  the  Lockes, 
Brandons,    Grahams,   Nesbits,   AlHsons,   Rutherfords, 


136 


HISTORY   OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 


'^ 


'X^s-^^-v,-^^^^' 


JaaiEs  Graham  Ramsay,  ]\I.  D. 


STATE    senator;    member    second    confederate    congress;    a 

DESCENDANT    OF    JAMES    GRAHAM 


MEMBERS    OF    THE    PROVINCIAL    CONGRESS  1 37 

Lynns,  Gibsons,  Frohocks,  and  others,  whose  descend- 
ants still  remain  in  the  county. 

From  this  region,  in  1775,  was  chosen,  to  represent 
Rowan  County  in  the  Provincial  Congress  at  New- 
bern 

Gen.  Griffith  Rutherford 

The  Rutherfords  are  Scotch-Irish,  and  one  of  the 
families  in  the  "Land  of  Bruce."  The  family  is  men- 
tioned in  the  early  annals  of  Scotland  as  friends  of 
King  Ruther,  from  whom  they  received  the  name, 
and  large  tracts  of  land.  For  centuries  they  have 
been  classed  among  the  most  ancient  and  powerful 
families  in  Teviotdale,  on  the  borders  of  England. 
They  have  intermarried  with  the  royal  families,  and 
from  inherited  honors  and  from  honors  conferred 
have  been  prominent  among  the  nobility.  The  mother 
of  Sir  Walter  Scott  was  a  Rutherford. 

The  Rev.  Samuel  Rutherford,  the  author  of  the 
Rutherford  Letters,  was  one  of  the  ablest  leaders  of 
Presbyterianism.  He  was  sent  as  a  delegate  from 
Scotland  to  Westminster  to  defend  that  faith.  This, 
together  with  his  political  opinions  freely  expressed, 
caused  some  of  the  family  to  be  banished  from  Scot- 
land, and  to  take  refuge  in  Ireland,  where  John 
Rutherford  was  married  to  ]\Iiss  Griffith,  an  exile 
from  \\'ales.  Their  son  Griffith  came  to  America 
wnth  his  son — also  called  Griffith — and  settled  near 
Salisbury,  Rowan  County,  X.  C.  This  son — the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch — married  Elizabeth  Graham,  a  sis- 
ter of  James  Graham,  who  was  also  descended  from  a 


138  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

long  line  of  noble  Scotch  ancestors.  Both  families 
lived  in  what  was  then  called  the  Locke  or  Thyatira 
settlement.  They  had  five  sons  and  daughters.  Their 
eldest  son,  ]\Iajor  James  Rutherford,  was  killed  in 
the  battle  of  Eutaw.  In  1770,  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  was  a  captain  of  militia  under  Governor  Tryon, 
but  joined  James  Graham  and  others  and  formed  the 
Regulators  against  Tryon  the  following  year.  He 
was  appointed  a  member  of  the  Committee  of  Safety, 
and  was  a  jur}^man  in  the  trial  of  Tories  in  1775.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Provincial  Congress  which  met 
at  Hah  fax,  April  4,  1776.  He  and  Matthew  Locke 
represented  Rowan  County.  He  was  also  a  member 
of  the  Provincial  Congress  of  1775.  In  April  of  1776, 
he  was  appointed  brigadier-general,  and  in  the  same 
month  was  a  member  of  the  Constitutional  Conven- 
tion. In  September,  he  marched  at  the  head  of 
twenty-four  hundred  men  into  the  Cherokee  country, 
and  killed  a  number  of  Indians,  destroyed  their  crops, 
burned  their  habitations ;  and  finally  forced  them  to 
sue  for  peace  and  surrender  a  part  of.  their  lands.  In 
this  campaign,  his  loss  was  only  three  men  killed. 
He  returned  to  Salisbury,  and  disbanded  his  army  at 
that  place.  He  commanded  a  brigade  at  the  battle  of 
Sanders  Creek,  near  Camden,  where  he  was  wounded 
and  taken  prisoner.  He  was  first  sent  to  Charleston, 
S.  C,  and  later  taken  to  St.  Augustine,  Fla.,  where  he 
remained  until  exchanged,  June  22,  1781.  He  again 
took  the  field,  and  was  in  command  at  Wilmington 
when  the  town  was  evacuated  by  the  British  at  the 
close  of  the  war. 


•.^^- 


<:y~CL 


UNITED    STATES    SENATOR    FROM    NORTH    CAROLINA 
AND   DESCENDANT   OF    MAJOR   JAMES    SMITH 


MEMBERS    OF    THE    PROVINCIAL    CONGRESS  1 39 

During  the  continuance  of  the  war,  he  was  a  State 
Senator  from  1777  to  1780,  and  from  1782  to  1786. 
In  the  year  1786,  he  removed  to  Tennessee,  and  settled 
in  Sumner  County.  In  1794,  George  Washington,  our 
first  President,  appointed  General  Rutherford  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Territorial  Legislature  which  met  at  Knox- 
ville,  Tenn.  The  Knoxville  Gazette,  of  date  1794, 
contains  account  as  follows,  viz. :  "On  ]\Ionday  last, 
the  General  Assembly  of  the  Territory  commenced 
their  first  session  in  this  town.  Gen.  Griffith  Ruther- 
ford, for  distinguished  services  in  the  Legislature  of 
North  Carolina,  is  appointed  president  of  the  Legisla- 
tive Council." 

Rutherford  County,  N.  C,  was  formed  in  1779,  and 
Rutherford  County,  Tenn.,  in  1803 ;  both  were  named 
in  honor  of  this  distinguished  Revolutionary  soldier 
and  statesman,  Griffith  Rutherford,  who  died  in  Sum- 
ner County,  Tenn.,  in  1800,  in  old  age  and  full  of 
honors. 

The  following  sketch  of  another  distinguished 
member  of  the  Provincial  Congress,  and  soldier  of  the 
Revolution,  was  prepared  for  this  article  by  one  of  his 
descendants,  Lee  S.  Overman^  Esq. 

Major  James  Smith 

Of  the  many  and  brave  men  associated  with  our 
American  Revolution,  very  few  figured  more  prom- 
inently, or  did  more  for  the  cause  of  liberty  in  this 
section  of  our  State  than  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 

The  son  of  James  Smith,  who  emigrated  from  Hol- 
land to  New  Jersey,  he,  with  a  colony  of  young  mar- 


I40  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

ried  men,  came  to  North  Carolina  some  time  before  the 
Revolution  and  settled  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Yadkin 
River,  and  made  what  is  known  as  the  Jersey  Settle- 
ment in  Davidson  County,  then  Rowan. 

In  stature  he  was  over  six  feet  tall,  straight  as  an 
arrow  and  of  a  commanding  appearance.  He  was  by 
occupation  a  planter,  and  was  possessed  of  means  in 
addition  to  the  land  he  owned,  which  he  obtained  by 
grant  from  McCullough.  He  had  slaves,  by  whom  he 
was  much  loved,  for,  though  they  were  carried  off 
south  by  the  Tories,  they  in  time  made  their  escape 
and  returned  to  their  old  home. 

James  Smith  served  as  Ensign,  in  1776,  under  King 
George  HI.  (See  report  of  Commandant  of  Court 
of  PubHc  Claims,  held  at  Newbern,  N.  C,  on  the 
sixth  day  of  November,  1756),  to  wit:  ''J^i^^s  Smith, 
an  Ensign  in  Rowan  County,  was  allowed  his  claim  of 
twelve  pounds  and  nineteen  shillings (£12/19),  for 
ranging  on  the  frontier  as  per  account  filed"  (State 
Records,  Vol.  XXH,  page  842). 

At  a  council  held  at  Newbern,  November  10,  1769, 
"a  commission  of  Peace  and  Dedimus  of  Rowan 
County"  was  issued  to  James  Smith  (A^ol.  8  of  Colonial 
Recorder,  page  149). 

In  the  Court  of  Pleas  and  Quarter  Session  of 
Rowan  County,  in  1772  (on  minute  docket  of  Rowan 
County,  1768-72),  is  the  following:  "\A'ednesday, 
fourth  of  November,  1772,  Griffith  Rutherford, 
Colonel,  and  James  Smith,  Captain,  produced  their 
commission  in  open  Court,  qualified,  and  signed  the 
test  agreeable  to  law." 


MEMBERS    OF    THE    PROVINCIAL    CONGRESS  I4I 

James  Smith  served  as  justice  presiding  over  the 
"Court  of  Pleas  and  Quarter  Session  for  Rowan 
County,"  under  King  George  III.,  during  the  years 
1770-71-72-73-74-75,  at  Salisbury,  N.  C. 

In  1775,  he  took  a  prominent  and  active  part  in 
every  movement  tending  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of 
tyranny  and  looking  to  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence by  the  country  at  large.  He  was  a  member  of 
the  Committee  of  Safety  for  Rowan  County,  and  so 
far  as  we  are  able  to  find  out  was  present  at  every 
meeting  thereof.  During  this  same  year  he  was  ap- 
pointed to  address  the  citizens  of  his  county  upon  the 
subject  of  American  freedom,  was  chairman  of  the 
Committee  to  examine  certain  citizens  as  to  their  po- 
litical sentiment,  and  also  was  one  of  the  Committee 
of  "Secrecy,  Intelligence,  and  Observation."  Also,  he 
was  chosen  by  the  friends  of  liberty  in  his  county  to 
represent  them  in  the  Convention  of  Patriots  Adverse 
to  the  Oppression  of  Great  Britain,  which  met  at  Hills- 
boro,  on  the  twenty-first  of  August  of  the  same  year. 

At  the  Halifax  Congress,  April  22,  i'/76,  he  was  ap- 
pointed Major  of  the  Salisbury  District,  of  which 
Francis  Locke  was  Colonel,  and  Griffith  Rutherford, 
Brigadier-General.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Provin- 
cial Congress  which  met  at  Halifax  on  the  twelfth 
day  of  November,  1776,  and  which  framed  our  first 
civil  Constitution.  In  1777  he  was  a  member  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  with  Matthew  Locke  as  his  asso- 
ciate and  Griffith  Rutherford  in  the  Senate. 

Not  only  did  he  thus  appear  in  the  public  assemblies 
of  our  country,  in  behalf  of  the  people's  rights,  but  no 


142  HISTORY  OF   ROW  AX    COUNTY 

one  was  more  active  than  he  in  repeUing  the  Tories. 
He  buckled  on  his  sword  at  every  call,  and  was  always 
at  the  front,  fighting  for  freedom  and  his  native  land. 
He  made  several  campaigns  with  his  regiment  against 
the  British,  and  engaged  in  several  hard-contested  bat- 
tles, until  he  was  severely  wounded,  when  he  was  fur- 
loughed  home.  He  had  not  been  long  returned  be- 
fore the  Tories  heard  of  his  whereabouts,  and  being 
eager  for  their  prize  they  sought  him  immediately. 
Air.  Sloan,  who  lived  in  the  neighborhood,  had  heard 
of  their  designs,  and  sent  his  ser^-ant,  Ben,  to  inform 
the  Major  of  his  danger.  Poor  Ben,  who  lived  until 
i860  to  tell  the  tale,  was  destined  never  to  deliver  his 
message,  for  before  he  had  proceeded  far,  Captain 
Wood  and  forty  men  overtook  him,  shot  him  through 
and  left  him  for  dead.  They  then  went  to  the  Major's 
residence  and  demanded  his  surrender.  His  wife, 
Clara,  met  them  at  the  door,  as  tradition  has  it,  with 
one  of  the  long-handled  frying-pans  which  were  used 
in  those  days,  and  defied  them.  She  was  soon  over- 
powered, however,  and  her  husband  was  seized,  and 
with  John  Paul  Barringer,  of  ^Mecklenburg,  and  others, 
carried  to  Camden,  S.  C,  and  imprisoned.  Soon  he 
was  attacked  with  smallpox,  and  died.  His  good  and 
brave  wife  followed  him  and  nursed  him  in  his  last 
moments.  She  saw  his  remains  deposited  in  the  grave, 
and  returned  to  comfort  her  three  children  she  had 
left  behind.  Of  these  children,  James,  who  was  only 
twelve  years  old  at  the  time  of  his  father's  capture, 
was  for  a  long  time  Sheriff  of  Rowan,  and  of  Davidson 
after  the   division.     Sheriff   Smith's   daughter,   Alice, 


MEMBERS  OF  THE  PROVINCIAL  CONGRESS  I43 

married  Fielding  Slater,  who  for  many  years  was  also 
Sheriff  of  Rowan  County,  which  office  he  filled  with 
great  acceptability  to  the  people.  Also  two  of  his 
sons  now  live  in  the  county  of  Davidson,  fit  representa- 
tives of  their  honored  ancestor.  In  both  counties 
there  are  many  descendants  of  this  brave  and  noble 
man,  all  of  whom  are  noted  for  their  good  character 
and  moral  worth  as  public-spirited  citizens. 

Intimately  associated  with  General  Rutherford  and 
Major  Smith,  in  the  Provincial  Congress  of  North 
Carolina,  and  in  the  public  affairs  of  Rowan  County 
during  and  after  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  was 

Hon.  William  Sharpe 

While  Rutherford  represented  the  Central  Rowan, 
or  Grant's  Creek,  section,  and  Smith  came  from  the 
"Jerseys"  or  Eastern  Rowan  section,  Sharpe  was  from 
the  West,  and  represented  that  region  now  included  in 
Iredell  County. 

William  Sharpe  was  the  eldest  son  of  Thomas 
Sharpe,  of  Cecil  County,  Md.,  and  was  born  in 
that  State,  December  13,  1742.  In  the  year  1763  he 
immigrated  to  North  Carolina,  and  settled  in  Mecklen- 
burg County,  where  he  married  the  daughter  of  David 
Reese.  Mr.  Reese  was  from  Pennsylvania — the  brother 
of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Reese,  a  prominent  minister  in 
Mecklenburg,  and  afterwards  in  South  Carolina. 
David  Reese  was  a  leading  citizen  in  his  day,  and  his 
name  is  honored  with  a  place  among  the  signers  of  the 
Mecklenburg  Declaration  of  Independence. 


144  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

Mr.  Sharpe,  soon  after  his  marriage,  moved  to 
Rowan  County,  and  in  the  Revolution  took  an  early 
and  decided  part  in  all  public  affairs,  and  was  a 
staunch  advocate  for  independence.  At  the  formation 
of  the  Committee  of  Safety  for  Rowan  County  in 
1774,  William  Sharpe  was  selected  as  a  member,  and 
his  name  is  attached  to  the  minutes  of  the  Committee 
as  secretary.  At  the  adjournment  of  the  Committee, 
in  1776,  the  minutes  appear  to  have  been  left  in  his 
hands,  and  were  preserv^ed  in  his  family,  until  they 
were  brought  to  light  by  the  researches  of  Prof.  E.  F. 
Rockwell,  and  published  in  185 1,  in  Wheeler's 
Sketches  of  North  Carolina. 

In  1775  he  represented  Rowan  in  the  Provincial 
Congress  at  Newbern  and  Hillsboro,  and  he  was  also 
a  member  of  the  convention  that  formed  the  first  con- 
stitution of  the  State,  at  Halifax,  in  1776.  The  same 
year  he  acted  as  aide  to  General  Rutherford  in  his 
campaign  against  the  Cherokee  Indians. 

In  1779  he  was  the  representative  of  the  Salisbury 
District  in  the  Continental  Congress  of  Philadelphia. 
At  the  battle  of  Ramsour's  Mill,  June,  1780,  two  of 
Captain  Sharpe's  sons,  William  and  Thomas,  served 
under  the  command  of  Col.  Francis  Locke,  ^^'illiam 
was  in  command  of  a  Company  and  conducted  himself 
with  distinguished  gallantry.  It  was  a  shot  directed 
by  him  that  struck  down  one  of  the  Tory  captains, 
near  the  close  of  the  action,  and  thus  contributed  to 
the  speedy  termination  of  the  battle  in  favor  of  the 
patriots. 


MEMBERS  OF  THE  PROVINCIAL  CONGRESS  I45 

Mr.  Sharpe,  during  the  Revolutionary  War,  was  a 
magistrate  of  Rowan  County  and  his  name  appears 
frequently  on  the  records  as  one  of  the  presiding 
Justices  in  the  County  Court.  On  the  seventh  of 
February,  1785,  he  presented  a  lawyer's  Hcense,  and 
took  the  customary  oath  of  an  attorney.  After  this 
period  he  appears  as  a  lawyer  in  many  cases  in  Court, 
and  enjoyed,  as  Dr.  Hunter  says,  an  extensive  practice. 

Mr.  Sharpe  died  in  181 8,  in  the  seventy-seventh 
year  of  his  age,  leaving  a  widow  and  twelve  children. 
These  children,  with  his  own  reputation  for  distin- 
guished services,  constitute  his  legacy  to  his  country. 

In  concluding  this  sketch  I  will  mention  that,  be- 
sides his  sons,  by  whom  the  name  of  Sharpe  is 
perpetuated,  there  were  two  raughters,  who  became 
mothers  of  extensive  and  influential  famiHes.  The 
eldest  of  these  v/as  named  Matilda,  and  was  united  in 
marriage  to  William  W.  Erwin,  of  Burke  County. 
Their  union  was  blessed  with  a  family  of  fifteen  chil- 
dren, many  of  whom  have  held  prominent  and  honora- 
ble positions  in  the  State,  and  their  descendants  are 
still  found  as  honored  and  useful  citizens  in  the  Pied- 
mont regions  of  North  Carolina. 

Ruth,  the  second  daughter  of  the  Hon.  William 
Sharpe,  was  married  to  Col.  Andrew  Caldwell,  of 
Iredell  County.  Colonel  Caldwell  represented  Iredell 
County  in  the  House  of  Commons  in  1806-07-08,  and 
in  the  Senate  in  1812-13. 

His  two  sons,  Judge  David  F.  Caldwell,  so  long  a 
prominent  citizen  of  Salisbury,  and  the  Hon.  Joseph 
P.    Caldwell,    who    represented    his    district    in    the 


146  HISTORY    OF    ROWAN    COUNTY 

National  Congress,  sustained  the  reputation  of  their 
distinguished  ancestor  by  their  pubHc  services. 

John  Brevard 

Another  name  on  the  list  of  members  of  the  Provin- 
cial Congress  of  North  Carolina  was  John  Brevard. 
The  family  is  of  French  extraction,  and  its  history  is 
associated  with  the  stirring  events  that  accompanied 
the  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century,  in  France. 
The  Calvinistic  subjects  of  the  French  King  were  per- 
secuted and  harrassed  through  long  years,  until  driven 
to  madness  they  allied  themselves  with  the  Prince  of 
Conde,  and  attempted  resistance.  But  their  plans 
were  discovered  and  frustrated,  and  they  were  sub- 
jected to  still  greater  persecutions.  At  length,  how- 
ever, Henry  IV.,  by  the  famous  Edict  of  Nantes,  in 
1598,  granted  equal  rights  to  his  Protestant  and  Catho- 
lic subjects.  For  about  three  quarters  of  a  century 
the  Huguenots,  or  French  Calvinists,  enjoyed  com- 
parative safety,  during  which  time  they  multiplied 
and  prospered.  At  length,  however,  Louis  XR\,  in- 
stigated by  ]\Iadame  de  ]\Iaintenon,  began  to  renew 
the  cruel  work  of  persecuting  his  Protestant  subjects, 
by  imposing  disabilities  and  fines  upon  them.  In  1685 
he  revoked  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  and  endeavored  to 
suppress  all  forms  of  worship  except  the  Romish. 
By  this  cruel  and  short-sighted  policy  he  drove  from 
his  dominions  more  than  a  half-million  of  his  most 
useful  and  industrious  subjects  —  farmers,  artisans, 
laborers,  producers  of  all  kinds.  They  crossed  into 
Switzerland,    Germany,    Holland,   England,   wherever 


MEMBERS  OF  THE  PROVINCIAL  CONGRESS  I47 

the  frontiers  were  more  easily  passed.  Among  these 
Huguenot  emigrants  was  a  young  man  of  the  name 
of  Brevard,  who  found  his  way  to  the  north  of  Ire- 
land. Here  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  a  family  by 
the  name  of  McKnitt,  of  Scotch  extraction.  He  deter- 
mined to  cast  in  his  lot  with  this  family  in  their  pro- 
jected emigration  to  the  New  World.  It  happened 
that  there  was  in  the  McKnitt  family  a  fair  young 
lass,  for  whom  the  ardent  Huguenot  conceived  a  ten- 
der passion,  and  responsive  affection  w^as  awakened  in 
the  bosom  of  the  maiden.  The  result  was  a  marriage, 
and  the  young  couple  upon  reaching  America  settled 
in  a  home  on  Elk  River,  in  Maryland.  There  were 
born  unto  them  five  sons  and  a  daughter.  The  eldest 
of  these  was  John  Brevard,  the  Rowan  County  farmer 
and  member  of  the  Provincial  Congress. 

Before  his  removal  to  North  Carohna  he  was  united 
in  marriage  to  a  sister  of  the  Rev.  Alex.  McWhorter, 
D.  D.,  a  distinguished  Presbyterian  minister,  who  was 
for  a  short  time  president  of  "Queens  Museum"  Col- 
lege, in  Charlotte. 

John  Brevard  settled  in  Rowan  County,  about  three 
miles  from  Center  church,  some  time  between  1740 
and  1750,  coming  on  with  the  first  immigrants  to  that 
section.  There  he  led  a  quiet  and  useful  life,  rearing 
a  large  family,  consisting  of  eight  sons  and  four 
daughters,  whom  he  trained  to  be  useful  citizens. 
A\'hen  the  troublous  times  of  the  Revolution  came, 
Brevard  was  an  old  man,  but  not  too  old  to  represent 
Rowan  County  in  the  Provincial  Congress.  And 
though  too   old  to  take  the   field,   his   sons  gallantly 


148  HISTORY  OF   ROW  AX    COUNTY 

obeyed  the  call  to  amis,  and  entered  into  the  military 
service.  On  that  dark  morning  of  the  first  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1781,  when  Gen.  William  Davidson  fell  at 
Cowan's  Ford,  while  resisting  the  passage  of  the 
British  troops,  Mr.  Brevard's  house  was  burned  down 
by  order  of  some  of  the  British  officers.  A  part  of  the 
invading  army  crossed  at  Beattie's  Ford,  and  so  passed 
directly  by  Brevard's  house.  The  old  gentleman  was 
absent  from  home,  and  his  daughters  had  been  sent 
across  a  swamp,  out  of  harm's  way,  leaving  none  but 
the  venerable  wife  and  mother  at  home.  A  British 
officer,  riding  up  and  taking  a  paper  out  of  his  pocket, 
declared  that  the  house  must  be  burned,  alleging  as  a 
reason  that  Brevard  had  eight  sons  in  the  rebel  army. 
Though  the  venerable  matron  tried  to  save  some  of  her 
property,  it  was  snatched  from  her  hands,  and  cast 
into  the  flames.  Gen.  \Mlliam  Davidson,  who.  was 
killed  that  morning,  was  the  son-in-law  of  John  Bre- 
vard, having  married  ^lary,  his  eldest  daughter. 
Their  son,  WilHam  Lee  Davidson,  Esq.,  was  an  early 
friend  and  patron  of  Davidson  College,  and  made  a  do- 
nation of  the  land  upon  which  the  College  now  stands. 
Dr.  Ephraim  Brevard,  the  secretary  of  the  Mecklen- 
burg Convention,  was  the  eldest  son  of  John  Brevard. 
Dr.  Foote  says  of  him:  "He  thought  clearly;  felt 
deeply;  wrote  well;  resisted  bravely,  and  died  a 
martyr  to  that  liberty  none  loved  better  and  few  un- 
derstood so  well." 


MEMBERS  OF  THE  PROVIXCIAL  CONGRESS  I49 

Hox.  :\rATTHEw  Locke 

From  the  first  volume  of  records  in  the  office  of  the 

Register  of  Deeds  in  Salisbury,  we  learn  that,  from 

1752  to   1754,  there  were  three  men  by  the  name  of 

Locke— probably    brothers— who    acquired    titles    to 

land  in  Rowan   County.     One  of  these  was   Francis 

Locke,   who  purchased   over   a   thousand  acres    from 

John   Brandon,   called   the   "Poplar   Lands,"   on   both 

sides   of   the   wagon   road  leading   from   the   Yadkin 

River  to  the  "Irish  Settlement."     In  1752  there  was  a 

grant  from  Earl  Granville  to  George  Locke  of  a  tract 

in  the   neighborhood   of   "Poplar   Spring,"   adjoining 

the  lands  of  John  Thompson.     These  tracts  are  said 

to  be  on  the  south  side  of  the  Yadkin,  but  whether  near 

that  stream  or  not  is  not  mentioned.     In  1752  there 

was  a  grant  of  six  hundred  acres  from  Earl  Granville 

to  Alatthew  Locke.     From  these  three  persons  sprang 

the    numerous    families    of    Lockes    that    resided    in 

Rowan  County  in  the  closing  years  of  the  last  and  the 

opening  years  of  the  present  century. 

But  it  is  with  special  reference  to  the  last-mentioned 
of  the  three,  the  Hon.  IMatthew  Locke,  that  this 
article  is  penned. 

He  was  the  owner  of  a  fertile  tract  of  land,  on  the 
east  side  of  Grant's  Creek,  about  five  miles  south  of 
Salisbury,  adjoining  the  plantations  of  John  Brandon, 
James  Allison,  and  John  Nesbit.  The  family  mansion 
stood  on  the  Concord  Road,  at  or  near  the  place  where 
Dr.  Scott's  residence  was,  now  the  home  of  Mr.  Philip 
Owens. 


150  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

Mr.  Locke  was  born  in  1730,  and  was  probably  a 
grown  young  man  when  he  came  to  the  county,  and 
contributed  his  part  in  laying  the  foundations  of 
society;  and  when  the  Regulation  troubles  arose  he 
was  in  the  prime  of  life,  having  already  established  a 
reputation  for  capacity  in  business  and  integrity  in  the 
most  delicate  of  trusts.  In  1771,  when  the  people  of 
Rowan  were  groaning  under  the  pressure  of  ex- 
orbitant taxation,  and  a  committee  of  the  people  had 
met  the  clerk  of  court,  sheriff,  and  other  officers  of 
the  crown,  and  exacted  from  them  a  promise  to  return 
all  moneys  received  by  them  over  and  above  their  law- 
ful fees,  Matthew  Locke  was  among  those  selected 
as  proper  persons  to  receive  and  return  to  the  people 
these  unlawful  fees.  As  General  Waddell  soon  ap- 
peared in  Salisbury  with  the  Governor's  troops,  and 
the  whole  scheme  of  the  Regulation  was  crushed  out 
in  the  battle  of  Alamance  only  two  months  after  this 
appointment,  it  is  probable  that  no  indemnity  for  the 
past  was  secured ;  but  the  appointment  of  Locke  for 
the  discharge  of  such  a  delicate  duty  shows  the  confi- 
dence reposed  in  him  by  his  fellow-citizens. 

He  was  chosen  to  represent  Rowan  in  the  Provincial 
Congress,  which  met  in  Hillsboro,  August  20,  1775, 
along  with  James  Smith,  ]\Ioses  W'inslow,  Samuel 
Young,  William  Kennon,  and  \\'illiam  Sharpe.  ^Ir. 
Locke  was  chosen  by  this  Congress,  along  with 
Maurice  jMoore,  Richard  Caswell,  Rev.  Henry  Patillo, 
and  others,  to  confer  with  such  persons  as  entertained 
religious  or  political  scruples  with  respect  to  associat- 
ing in  the  common  cause  of  America,  to  remove  those 


MEMBERS  OF  THE  PROVINCIAL  CONGRESS  I51 

scruples,  and  to  persuade  them  to  co-operate  with  the 
friends  of  Hberty. 

Mr.  Locke  also  served  on  the  committee,  along  with 
Caswell,  Hooper,  Johnston,  Hewes,  Spencer,  and 
others,  which  prepared  the  plan  for  the  regulation  of 
the  internal  peace  of  the  Province  in  the  absence  (  !) 
of  Governor  Martin.  He  also  served  on  Committees 
of  Public  Finance,  W^ays  and  ]\Ieans,  for  arrangement 
of  minute  men,  commissaries,  and  other  important 
matters.  At  a  meeting  of  the  Provincial  Council,  held 
at  Johnston  Courthouse,  October  i8,  1775,  Matthew 
Locke,  Esq.,  was  appointed  paymaster  of  the  troops 
stationed  in  the  District  of  Salisbury,  and  also  of  the 
minute  men  in  said  District,  and  Richard  Caswell,  the 
"Southern  Treasurer,"  was  directed  to  pay  into  his 
hands  five  thousand  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds 
(^5.250)   for  that  purpose. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Provincial  Congress,  at  Hali- 
fax, April  4,  1776,  :\Ir.  Locke,  with  General  Ruther- 
ford, represented  Rowan  County,  and  was  made 
chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Claims,  to  settle  and 
allow  military  and  naval  accounts.  He  was  also  on 
the  Committee  of  ''Secrecy,  Intelligence,  and  Observa- 
tion," was  appointed  to  receive,  produce,  and  purchase 
firearms  for  the  soldiers  of  Rowan  County.  In  view 
of  these  facts,  gathered  from  the  minutes  of  the  North 
Carolina  Provincial  Congress,  as  found  in  Peter 
Force's  "American  Archives,"  it  appears  that  ]\Ir. 
Locke  was  a  working  man  in  public  affairs,  and  that 
he  was  entrusted  with  much  of  the  important  business 


152  HISTORY  OF   ROWAX    COUNTY 

of  the  Congress,  especially  such  as  related  to  the 
public  finances. 

After  the  formation  of  the  State  Constitution, 
Matthew  Locke  was  chosen  to  represent  Rowan 
County  four  successive  years:  1777-78  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  and  the  two  succeeding  years,  1781-82, 
he  was  a  member  of  the  Senate.  After  this  he  served 
six  years  again  in  the  House  of  Commons — making  in 
all  twelve  years  in  the  Legislature. 

From  1793  to  1799  he  was  a  member  of  the  Con- 
gress of  the  United  States.  His  public  services  lasted 
almost  as  long  as  his  life,  for  in  1801,  the  seventy-first 
year  of  his  age,  he  departed  this  Hfe. 

He  was  married  to  a  daughter  of  Richard  Brandon, 
an  early  patriot  of  Rowan  County,  and  had  at  one  time 
four  sons  in  the  Revolutionary  ^^■ar.  One  of  these 
sons,  Lieut.  George  Locke,  was  killed  by  the 
British  at  Kennedy's  Farm,  between  Charlotte  and 
Sugar  Creek  Church,  in  a  skirmish,  when  Lord  Corn- 
wallis  captured  Charlotte,  on  the  twenty-sixth  of  Sep- 
tember, 1780.  His  remains  were  interred  at  his 
father's  residence,  near  Sahsbury. 

Col.  Francis  Locke,  who  was  appointed  Colonel  of 
the  First  Rowan  Regiment  by  the  Provincial  Congress, 
in  April,  1776,  with  Alexander  Dobbins  as  Lieutenant- 
Colonel,  James  Brandon  First  ]\Iajor,  and  James 
Smith  Second  Major,  was  a  nephew  of  the  Hon.  Mat- 
thew Locke.  Colonel  Locke  was  in  the  command  of 
General  Ashe  in  the  beginning  of  1779,  when  that 
officer  was  sent  to  Georgia,  unprepared,  with  two  thou- 
sand   North    Carolina    militia.      Against    the    remon- 


MEMBERS  OF  THE  PROVIXCIAL  CONGRESS  I  53 

strances  of  General  Ashe,  General  Lincoln  pushed 
these  troops  forward  at  Brier  Creek,  where  they  were 
surprised  and  defeated  by  General  Prevost.  Colonel 
Locke  was  one  of  the  court-martial  to  examine  into 
that  disastrous  affair.  The  unfortunate  General  Ashe, 
being  broken  in  spirit  by  the  result  of  this  transaction, 
retired  from  the  army  and  was  no  more  in  active 
service.  The  reader  will  remember  that  it  was 
Col.  Francis  Locke  who,  with  four  hundred  men 
from  Rowan  and  ]^Iecklenburg,  attacked  and  defeated 
the  Tories  at  Ramsour's  Mill,  on  the  twentieth  of 
June,  1780,  in  a  hard-fought  battle,  against  a  superior 
force  entrenched  on  ground  of  their  own  choosing. 
In  this  battle  seven  Whig  captains,  namely :  Falls, 
Knox,  Dobson,  Smith,  Bowman,  Sloan,  and  Arm- 
strong, were  killed,  and  the  bodies  of  six  of  them  sleep 
under  a  brick  monumental  structure,  on  the  southern 
brow  of  the  rising  battleground,  about  fifty  or  sixty 
yards  from  the  present  public  road.  The  remains  of 
Captain  Falls  were  carried  to  his  home  in  Rowan,  near 
Sherrill's  Ford,  on  the  Catawba,  and  there  interred. 
His  sword  was  in  the  possession  of  the  late  Robert 
Falls  Simonton,  his  grandson,  at  the  time  of  his  death 
four  years  ago. 

In  Thyatira  graveyard  stands  a  monument  to  the 
memory  of  the  Hon.  Francis  Locke,  which  states  that 
he  was  born  on  the  thirty-first  of  October,  1766, 
elected  Judge  of  the  Superior  Court  in  1803,  elected 
Senator  of  the  United  States  in  1814,  and  died  in 
January,  1823.     He  never  married. 


154  HISTORY   OF   ROWAX   COUNTY 

The  Hon.  IMatthew  Locke,  as  before  stated,  married 
a  daughter  of  Richard  Brandon,  and  left  eight  sons,  as 
follows :  George,  killed  near  Charlotte ;  William,  died 
young;  John,  died  young;  Francis,  moved  A\'est; 
Richard,  Matthew,  James,  and  Robert. 

Gen.  Francis  Locke,  nephew  of  the  above,  and 
probably  a  son  of  Francis  or  George,  mentioned  in  the 
beginning  of  this  article,  also  married  a  Brandon,  and 
left  four  sons,  viz. :  Francis,  John,  \Mlliam,  and 
Matthew.  This  genealogical  notice  was  obtained  by 
Gen.  R.  Barringer  from  ^Irs.  David  Parks,  of  Char- 
lotte, nee  Locke. 

A  generation  or  two  ago  the  Locke  family  in  Rowan 
County  was  numerous,  and  held  a  prominent  place  in 
public  affairs.  But  by  removals  and  deaths  it  has 
come  to  pass  that  few  of  that  name  remain.  Still,  in 
the  female  line,  there  are  prominent  citizens  in  Rowan 
and  adjoining  counties  who  worthily  represent  the 
blood  of  the  statesmen,  counselors,  and  warriors  who 
once  proudly  bore  the  name  of  Locke.  And  it  is  w^ell 
that  one  of  our  principal  townships  has  been  deputed 
to  carry  down  that  honorable  name  to  posterity.  Our 
people  cannot  afford  to  lose  the  patriotic  influence  that 
is  exerted  by  the  names  of  the  sages  and  heroes  of  past 
generations. 

Samuel  Youxg 

The  traveler  who  leaves  Salisbury  on  the  ^^^estern 
North  Carolina  Railroad,  after  passing  over  Grant's 
Creek  and  Second  Creek,  will  begin  to  see,  on  his 
right,   a   wooded   range   of   hills   or   small   mountains 


MEMBERS  OF  THE  PROVINCIAL  CONGRESS  I  55 

looming  up  near  by.  It  is  only  a  few  hundred  feet  in 
height,  yet  high  enough  to  be  seen  for  twenty  or  thirty 
miles  around.  Here  the  Indian's  watchfire,  or  signal 
fire  beacon,  would  have  flashed  its  light  to  different 
mountain  peaks — to  Dunn's  Mountain,  to  the  Pilot, 
and  to  King's  Mountain,  sixty  miles  away  to  the  south- 
ward. This  eminence  is  called  Young's  Mountain,  and 
is  named  after  Samuel  Young,  the  subject  of  this 
sketch. 

Somewhere  about  1750  an  Irishman  came  over  the 
waters,  and  joined  in  the  stream  of  emigration  that 
was  flowing  throug^h  \\^estern  Carolina.  With  a  skill 
that  marked  him  out  as  a  man  of  foresight,  he  selected, 
entered,  or  purchased  a  body  of  land  containing  not 
less  than  four  thousand  acres,  the  richest  in  Rowan 
County.  It  lay  up  and  down  Third  Creek  from  the 
church  to  Neely's  old  mill,  a  distance  of  three  or  four 
miles,  and  included  the  mountain  mentioned  before. 
He  chose  for  his  residence  a  spot  about  two  hundred 
yards  from  Third  Creek,  on  land  now  belonging  to 
Mrs.  John  Graham,  not  far  from  the  site  of  the 
church.  The  first  grant  of  his  is  dated  March  25, 
1752,  and  is  for  three  hundred  and  forty  acres,  from 
Earl  Granville.  This  was  before  the  County  of  Rowan 
was  formed,  and  the  land  is  described  as  lying  on 
''Third  Creek,  County  of  Anson."  In  1756,  Michael 
Dickson,  weaver,  sold  to  Samuel  Young,  planter,  five 
hundred  and  twenty-five  acres  on  the  north  side  of 
Third  Creek. 

Mr.  Young  appears  as  one  of  the  magistrates  of 
Rowan  County,  at  an  early  day,  and  he  was  a  promi- 


156  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

nent  actor  in  public  affairs  for  many  years.  Suppos- 
ing him  to  have  been  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  old 
upon  his  arrival  here,  he  would  be  a  man  of  mature 
years,  between  fifty  and  sixty,  at  the  opening  of  the 
Revolutionary  War.  At  that  time  of  trial  our  people 
needed  the  wisest  counselors  and  the  most  prudent 
leaders.  Among  these,  Rowan  County  selected  Samuel 
Young.  \\'hen  the  patriotic  and  courageous  John 
Harvey,  as  speaker  of  the  Assembly,  and  chairman  of 
the  Permanent  Committee  of  Correspondence  for 
North  Carolina,  issued  his  proclamation,  in  1774,  call- 
ing upon  the  people  to  elect  members  to  a  Provincial 
Congress,  to  be  held  in  Newbern,  Rowan  County 
chose  ]\Ioses  \\'inslow  and  Samuel  Young,  and  the 
Borough  of  Salisbury  chose  William  Kennon,  Esq.,  as 
their  Representatives.  This  Congress  was  opened 
August  25,  1774.  The  reader  who  wishes  to  know 
the  opinions  of  that  Congress  upon  the  subject  of 
human  rights  will  find  a  series  of  resolutions  adopted 
by  them,  on  pages  734-37  of  Vol.  I,  Fourth  Series,  of 
Peter  Force's  American  Archives.  These  resolutions 
struck  the  keynote  of  American  liberty,  though  they 
did  not  hint  at  independence.  We  have  at  hand  no 
means  of  deciding  as  to  the  authorship  of  those  reso- 
lutions, since  the  Congress  very  wisely  and  prudently 
kept  their  minutes  anonymously.  But  as  to  the  source 
of  their  inspiration  there  can  be  little  doubt.  On  pages 
360-61  of  the  second  volume  of  Colonel  Wheeler's 
History,  we  find  a  series  of  resolutions  by  the  Com- 
mittee of  Safety  of  Rowan,  adopted  August  8,  1774, 
just  seventeen   days   before   the  Provincial   Congress 


MEMBERS  OF  THE  PROVINCIAL  CONGRESS  I  57 

met.  Samuel  Young  of  Third  Creek,  and  William 
Kennon  of  Salisbury,  were  members  both  of  the 
Rowan  Committee  and  the  Provincial  Congress,  and 
went  directly  from  the  former  to  the  later.  They 
doubtless  carried  a  copy  of  the  Rowan  resolutions  to 
Newbem.  A  careful  inspection  of  the  two  papers 
will  show  that  the  paper  of  the  Congress  is  an  amplifi- 
cation and  modification  of  the  Rowan  paper,  employ- 
ing the  same  general  course  of  thought,  and  some- 
times toning  down  the  warmer  and  more  independent 
expressions  of  the  Rowan  paper.  The  author  of  the 
Rowan  Resolutions  is  not  named,  but  there  was  on  the 
Committee  a  number  of  persons  capable  of  composmg 
it,  such  as  William  Kennon,  the  chairman ;  Samuel 
Young,  John  Brevard,  jMatthew  Locke,  and  others. 
This  paper,  while  it  afiirms  loyalty  to  the  House  of 
Hanover,  and  is  no  premature  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence, nevertheless  bodily  affirms  the  rights  of 
free  men,  the  right  to  be  free  from  all  taxation  except 
such  as  is  imposed  by  their  representatives.  It  pro- 
poses a  general  association  of  the  American  Colonies 
to  oppose  all  infringements  of  their  rights  and 
privileges ;  discourages  trade  with  Great  Britain ;  de- 
clares that  homespun  clothing  ought  to  be  considered 
a  badge  of  distinction,  respect,  and  true  patriotism. 
This  is  the  first  extended  declaration  of  principles  and 
purposes  I  remember  to  have  seen.  There  w^ere  meet- 
ings in  other  counties,  where  true  patriots  expressed 
their  sympathy  and  offered  help  to  the  Boston  suffer- 
ers, but  they  usually  contented  themselves  with   ap- 


158  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

proving  the  assembling  of  a  Provincial  and  Continental 
Congress,  without  declaring  their  principles  in  detail. 

After  the  adjournment  of  the  Provincial  Congress 
of  1774,  'Mr.  Young  was  appointed  by  the  Rowan  com- 
mittee to  correspond  with  said  Congress,  and  to  see 
that  its  resolutions,  as  well  as  those  of  the  Continental 
Congress,  were  carried  out. 

On  the  first  of  June,  1775,  Samuel  Young  appears  as 
chairman  of  the  Rowan  Committee  of  Safety,  and  was 
directed  to  draw  up  an  address  to  the  several  militia 
companies  of  the  county,  and  was  made  military 
treasurer  of  the  county.  At  the  same  time  an  address 
was  prepared  to  be  sent  to  the  Mecklenburg  Com- 
mitttee.  This  address  to  Mecklenburg  expresses  the 
desire  that  greater  unity  may  be  secured  in  supporting 
the  common  cause,  and  ''that  we  may  have  one  con- 
stitution as  contained  in  i\Iagna  Charta,  the  Charter 
of  the  Forest,  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act,  and  the  Charter 
we  brought  over  with  us,  handed  down  to  posterity; 
and  that  under  God,  the  present  House  of  Hanover, 
in  legal  succession,  may  be  the  defenders  of  it."  That 
was  Wednesday,  June  i,  1775,  the  week  of  Court  in 
Salisbury,  when  Captain  Jack  brought  the  Charlotte 
Declaration  to  Salisbury,  handed  it  to  Colonel  Kennon, 
who  caused  it  to  be  read  in  open  Court,  according  to 
Captain  Jack's  certificate. 

In  August,  1775,  Samuel  Young  was  again  sent  as  a 
member  of  the  Provincial  Congress  at  Hillsboro,  along 
with  ]\Iatthew  Locke,  A\'illiam  Sharpe,  ]\Ioses  Win- 
slow,  AA'illiam  Kennon,  and  James  Smith.  This  Con- 
gress appointed  as  field  officers  of  the  Rowan  '']\Iinute 


MEMBERS  OF  THE  PROVINCIAL  CONGRESS  1 59 

Men/'  Thomas  Wade  of  Anson,  Colonel;  Adlai  Os- 
borne of  Rowan,  Lieutenant-Colonel,  and  Joseph  Har- 
ben  of  Rowan,  Major. 

In  the  years  1781  and  1782  Samuel  Young  served  as 
a  member  of  the  Legislature  of  North  Carolina.  After 
this  period  we  have  no  record  of  his  hfe  and  actions. 
He  lived,  however,  long  enough  to  see  the  cloud  of  war 
roll  away,  and  the  bright  sun  of  peace  and  independ- 
ence shme  upon  his  adopted  country,  to  see  the  con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  adopted,  and  George 
Washington  inaugurated  as  the  first  President  of  the 
Republic. 

From  his  last  Will  and  Testament,  dated  August  24, 
1793.   and  proved   in   Court   November   9,    1793,    we 
gather  that  he  closed  his  earthly  career  some  time  be- 
tween these  dates-the  fall  of  1793.     From  this  docu- 
ment It  appears  that  he  left  seven  children  to  inherit 
his    estate,    viz.:      WiHiam,    Janet,    Samuel,    James 
Margaret,  John,  and  Joseph.    William,  the  eldest,  was 
married  and  had  a  son  named  Samuel,  to  whom  his 
grandfather  left  a  small  legacy  by  his  Will.     Of  this 
William  Young  there  are  many  traditional  stories  told, 
especially  with  regard  to  his  presence  of  mind  in  dan- 
ger, and  his  remarkable  activity.     Upon  a  certain  oc- 
casion, as  he  was  about  to  cross  Third  Creek  on  a  foot- 
log,  at  the  head  of  Neely's  Pond,  he  saw  a  panther  in 
the  act  of  springing  upon  him  from  the  opposite  bank. 
It  was  the  work  of  a  moment  to  level  his  gun  and  pull 
the  trigger.     The  shot  met  the  panther  as  he  sprang, 
and  striking  it  in  the  head  the  ferocious  beast  fell  dead 
m  the  middle  of  the  stream.     In   1781,   while   Lord 


l6o  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

Cornwallis  was  moving  up  the  Yadkin,  in  pursuit  of 
General  Greene,  his  encampment  was  at  a  Mrs.  Camp- 
bell's, near  Rencher's  Ford — his  line  of  tents  extending 
from  where  Mr.  William  Watson  now  Hves  to  the 
farm  of  ^Ir.  Robert  Johnston.  Tradition  says  that 
William  Young,  then  a  young  man,  moved  with  curi- 
osity, strayed  unexpectedly  into  the  British  camp,  and 
suddenly  found  himself  hemmed  in  and  ordered  to  sur- 
render. But  instead  of  surrendering,  he  trusted  to  his 
fleetness  and  agility,  and  actually  leaped  over  three 
covered  wagons  in  succession,  and  so  escaped.  Follow- 
ing the  British  as  they  were  about  to  cross  South  Fork 
at  Rencher's  Ford,  he  was  unexpectedly  approached 
by  some  cavalrymen.  Starting  off  up  the  hill  at  full 
speed,  he  soon  distanced  the  troopers  and  again  es- 
caped. Another  story  is  that  he  won  a  wager  from  a 
British  officer  by  beating  the  most  active  soldier  that 
could  be  produced  in  feats  of  agility. 

The  second  son,  Samuel,  received  by  his  father's 
\\'ill  a  plantation  near  Cathey's  Meeting  -  house, 
(Thyatira).  The  oldest  daughter,  Janet,  was  mar- 
ried to  a  man  named  Webb,  and  their  oldest  child, 
Samuel  \A^ebb,  received  a  small  legacy  from  his  grand- 
father. James'  portion  was  allotted  to  him  on  Coddle 
Creek,  near  the  Wilmington  Road.  Margaret  married 
John  Inan,  and  three  of  her  sons  are  named  Christo- 
pher, Joseph,  and  John — the  last  still  living  near  Third 
Creek  Church,  at  the  ripe  age  of  seventy  years.  John 
had  his  portion  of  land  on  Third  Creek,  and  Joseph, 
the  youngest,  according  to  Scotch-Irish  customs,  re- 
ceived the  home  place  as  his  patrimony.     From  these 


MEMBERS  OF  THE  PROVINCIAL  CONGRESS  l6l 

are  descended  many  families,  such  as  the  Irvins, 
Foards,  Kilpatricks,  Alatthews,  W^oods,  and  others. 
Mr.  Young  evinced  his  Presbyterianism  in  his  Will  by 
providing  a  sum  to  purchase  for  each  of  his  children 
a  Bible  and  a  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith.  But 
his  library  seems  to  have  been  his  special  delight,  com- 
posed as  it  was  of  about  one  hundred  volumes  of 
standard  works.  He  left  this  library  to  be  divided 
into  lots  and  kept  by  his  five  sons — the  lots  to  be  ex- 
changed as  they  might  desire.  But  no  book  of  any  lot 
was  to  be  loaned,  hired,  or  otherwise  disposed  of,  un- 
der the  penalty  of  forfeiture  of  all  claim  to  the  library; 
and  in  the  event  the  sons  should  jointly  agree  to  a 
loan,  exchange,  or  sale,  then  the  whole  library  was  to 
be  sold,  and  the  proceeds  paid  over  to  the  two  daugh- 
ters. Books  of  this  library  are  still  to  be  found  in 
Third  Creek.  As  it  may  be  interesting  to  the  curious 
to  know  what  kind  of  books  were  found  in  an  intelli- 
gent planter's  library  one  hundred  years  ago,  I  give 
the  list  that  accompanies  the  Will :  "Henry's  Com- 
mentary, Burket  on  New  Testament,  Theory  of 
the  Earth,  Derham  on  Isaiah,  Beatty  on  Truth, 
Lee's  Law  Commonplaced,  ]\Iuller's  Fortification,  Der- 
ham's  Astrotheology,  Life  of  David,  Puffen- 
dorff's  History  of  Europe,  Salmon's  Gazette, 
Law  of  Evidence,  Salmon's  Geography,  Black- 
stone's  Commentaries,  Alair's  Bookkeeping,  Brown's 
Dictionary  of  the  Bible,  Hobbs  on  Human 
Nature,  Nature  of  the  Passions  and  Affections, 
Athenian  Sport,  Virgil,  Owen  on  Sin,  Man  of  Pleas- 
ure, Various  Subjects,  Nature  Displayed,  Moor's  Dia- 


l62  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN    COUNTY 

logues,  The  Soul  of  Astrology,  Locke's  Essays,  Dry- 
den  on  Poesy,  Cruikshank's  History  of  the  Church, 
Cunn's  Euclid,  Gulliver's  Travels,  Baxter  on  Religion, 
Addison's  Spectator,  \\'atson's  Body  of  Divinity,  Book 
of  Gauging,  Young's  Night  Thoughts,  Salmon's  Chro- 
nology, Junius'  Letters,  Matho,  Stackhouse  (6  vols.), 
Flavel's  Works  (8  vols.),  Cole's  Dictionary,  Oziel's 
Logic,  Abridgement  of  Irish  Statutes,  Religion  of  Na- 
ture, Young  Man's  Companion,  Atkinson's  Efifectum, 
Tisset,  Seller's  Navigation,  Theory  of  Fortification, 
The  Independent  Whig,  Parker's  Justice." 

Scripture,  theology,  literature,  history,  military 
tactics,  navigation,  poetry — a  good  library  of  the  best 
books,  graced  the  shelves  of  the  Third  Creek  patriot 
and  planter.  His  library  shows  that  he  was  a  man  of 
no  ordinary  taste  and  judgment.  Drinking  in  knowl- 
edge from  so  many  and  such  healthful  fountains,  we 
can  well  understand  why  he  was  put  forth  by  his 
fellow-citizens  in  times  of  trial  and  danger. 

The  facts  and  traditions  above  mritten  were 
gathered  from  Wheeler's  History,  American  Archives, 
a  note  from  Dr.  D.  B.  Wood  —  a  greatgrandson  of 
Samuel  Young,  Mr.  Franklin  Johnston,  and  others. 

Moses  Winslow  and  Alexander  Osborne 

The  southwestern  corner  of  Old  Rowan  County  was 
occupied  by  a  noble  and  patriotic  race  of  people  one 
hundred  years  ago.  There  you  will  find  the  original 
home  of  families  known  by  the  names  of  Davidson, 
Reese,  Hughes,  Ramsay,  Brevard,  Osborne,  Winslow, 
Kerr,    Rankin,    Templeton,    Dickey,    Braley,    ]\Ioore, 


MEMBERS  OF  THE  PROVINCIAL  CONXRESS  163 

Emerson.  Torrence,  Houston.  There  the  Rev.  John 
Thompson  closed  his  labors,  and  lies  sleeping  in  Ba- 
ker's graveyard.  His  daughter,  the  widow  Baker, 
afterwards  married  Dr.  Charles  Harris  of  Cabarrus, 
the  ancestor  of  the  late  ^^'illiam  Shakespeare  Harris, 
Esq.  Prominent  among  these  families  were  the  Os- 
bornes  and  Winslows. 

Alexander  Osborne 

was  born  in  New  Jersey  in  1709,  and  came  to  Rowan 
County  about  1755.  He  settled  on  the  headwaters  of 
Rocky  River,  and  called  his  place  "Belmont."  A 
neighbor  of  his  selected  for  his  residence  the  name  of 
"Alount  ]\Iourne,"  after  a  mountain  in  Ireland.  An- 
other, not  to  be  outdone  in  names,  called  his  place 
"Purgatory."  These  names  are  still  familiar  to  the 
people  of  that  section.  Osborne  was  a  colonel  in  the 
Colonial  Government,  and  a  man  of  influence  in  his 
day.  He  married  Agnes  McWhorter,  the  sister  of  the 
Rev.  Dr.  ]\Ic\\'horter,  for  some  time  president  of 
Queens  ^luseum,  in  Charlotte.  Their  place  was  the 
home  of  the  early  traveling  missionaries  to  the  South. 
Here  the  Rev.  Hugh  McAden  stopped,  in  1755,  and 
preached  at  the  "New  Meeting  House"  nearby 
(Center).  Here  about  the  same  time  was  established 
the  "Crowfield  Academy,"  where  David  Caldwell 
taught  a  few  years  later.  In  Center  Church  yard  is  a 
double  headstone,  telling  the  inquirer  that  Alexander 
Osborne  died  on  the  eleventh  day  of  July,  1776,  and 
his  wife,  Agnes,  two  days  earlier.  He  probably  never 
heard  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  made  seven 


164  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN    COUNTY 

days  before  his  death.  He  had  gone  to  a  brighter 
world,  where  the  alarms  of  war  never  come.  These 
parents  left  two  children — Adlai  Osborne  and  Jean  Os- 
borne. Adlai  was  graduated  at  Princeton  College  in 
1768.  His  name  appears  as  Clerk  of  the  Rowan  County 
Court  under  the  Royal  Government,  and  he  held  that 
post  in  the  New  Government  until  1809.  He  died  in 
181 5.  Among  his  children  were  two  sons  whose 
names  are  distinguished.  The  one  was  Spruce  ]\Iacay 
Osborne,  who  was  graduated  at  the  University  of 
North  CaroHna  in  1806,  became  a  surgeon  in  the  army 
and  was  killed  in  the  War  of  1812,  at  the  massacre  of 
Fort  ^limms.  The  other  son,  Edwin  Jay  Osborne, 
the  father  of  the  late  Hon.  James  W.  Osborne,  of 
Charlotte,  was  himself  an  eminent  lawyer,  distin- 
guished for  his  learning  and  eloquence.  Intimately 
connected  with  the  Osborne  family,  Vvas  the  family  of 

]\IosEs  Win  SLOW 

Benjamin  AA'inslow  or  Winsley,  as  it  was  first  writ- 
ten, obtained  a  grant  of  eight  hundred  and  twenty-five 
acres  of  land,  "on  both  sides  of  the  South  Fork  of 
Davises  Creek — waters  of  Catawba  River,"  under  date 
of  May  II,  1757.  A  still  earlier  grant  to  Benjamin 
\\^inslow,  under  date  of  ]\Iarch  25,  1752,  is  for  five 
hundred  and  eighty-seven  acres,  in  the  same  neigh- 
borhood, adjoining  the  lands  of  John  ^IcConnell.  This 

is  described  as  lying  in  Anson  County,  Parish  of . 

This  was  before  Rowan  was  erected  into  a  county.  In 
1758,  Benjamin  \\'inslow_,  Sr.,  made  a  deed  of  gift 
to  his  son,  Benjamin  \Mnslow,  Jr.,  of  five  hundred  and 


MEMBERS  OF  THE  PROVIXCIAL  CONGRESS  165 

thirty-five  acres,  adjoining  the  lands  of  Hugh  Lawson, 
Patrick  Hamilton,  Mrs.  Baker,  and  Moses  White. 
From  these  records  we  get  a  glimpse  of  families  resid- 
ing in  the  neighborhood.  The  first  Moses  White  em- 
igrated from  Ireland  about  1742,  and  married  the 
daughter  of  Hugh  Lawson,  named  above.  James 
White,  son  of  the  above  couple,  and  the  eldest  of  six 
brothers,  was  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution,  but  moved 
to  East  Tennessee  in  1786,  and  was  one  of  the  original 
founders  of  the  now  flourishing  city  of  Knoxville.  He 
was  distinguished  for  his  bravery,  energy,  and  talents, 
and  was  a  brigadier-general  in  the  Creek  War.  His 
illustrious  son,  Hugh  Lawson  White,  was  a  Judge  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  Tennessee,  a  Senator  of  the 
United  States,  president  of  the  Senate,  and  in  1836  a 
candidate  for  President  of  the  United  States.  His  re- 
mains sleep  peacefully  under  the  vines  and  grass  of  the 
churchyard  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Knoxville. 

From  these  deeds,  and  other  sources,  we  learn  that 
Benjamin  Winslow  had  three  children —  Benjamin, 
Moses,  and  Alary.  Of  these  we  propose  to  record  a 
few  facts. 

Alexander  Osborne  and  Benjamin  Winslow  were 
near  neighbors,  living  only  two  or  three  miles  apart. 
As  a  matter  of  course  their  boys,  Moses  and  Adlai, 
were  early  companions  and  associates.  Adlai  Osborne 
had  a  fair  young  sister — pretty  Jean  Osborne,  the  rose 
of  Belmont.  It  was  the  same  old  story,  told  under  the 
leafy  oaks  of  Rowan,  and  pretty  Jean  Osborne  be- 
came the  bride  of  young  Moses  Winslow.     This  was 


l66  HISTORY  OF  ROWAX    COUNTY 

in  1760.  They  settled  upon  some  of  the  Winslow 
lands,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  day;  for  the 
original  settlers,  tinctured  with  European  notions, 
rarely  gave  land  to  their  daughters,  but  divided  the  in- 
heritance among  the  sons.  The  home  of  this  couple 
was  not  far  from  Center  Church — the  property  owned 
by  the  late  Sidney  Houston,  Esq.  For  sixteen  years 
their  home  was  without  children.  But  in  the  eventful 
year  of  1776  came  the  first  child,  a  daughter  whom 
they  named  Dovey.  She  grew  up  to  be  a  famous 
beauty  and  belle  of  that  region.  Her  heart  was  at 
length  won  by  Dr.  Joseph  McKnitt  Alexander,  son  of 
John  McKnitt  Alexander.  Her  life  was  not  a  long 
one,  but  she  left  one  son,  Closes  Winslow  Alexander, 
who  lived  about  ten  miles  north  of  Charlotte  on  the 
Statesville  Road.  Some  of  his  children  are  still  living. 
On  the  first  day  of  February,  1771,  Cornwallis' 
troops  crossed  the  Catawba  River  and  marched  to- 
wards Salisbury.  In  their  march  several  houses  were 
burned  down.  When  they  reached  the  house  of  !Moses 
Winslow,  knowing  that  he  was  a  prominent  man,  a 
member  of  the  Provincial  Congress,  and  on  the  Rowan 
Committee  of  Safety,  the  soldiers  applied  the  torch 
to  his  residence.  At  the  same  time  some  ruffian  soldiers 
were  endeavoring  to  cut  from  Mrs.  Winslow  the 
capacious  outside  pockets,  so  fashionable  in  that  day, 
in  which  she  had  deposited  some  of  her  household 
valuables.  While  she  was  helplessly  submitting  to  the 
indignity  Lord  Cornwallis  himself  rode  up,  and  in 
obedience   to  the   instincts   of    an   English   gentleman 


MEMBERS  OF  THE  PROVINCIAL  CONGRESS  1 67 

ordered  them  to  desist,  and  to  extinguish  the  fire 
kindled  against  the  house. 

Moses  Winslow  lived  to  be  eighty-three  years  of  age. 
He  and  his  wife  sleep  in  the  graveyard  of  Center 
Church,  where  her  father  and  mother  are  resting  side 
by  side. 

Besides  their  beautiful  daughter,  Dovey,  they  had 
two  other  daughters,  named  Cynthia  and  Roscinda. 
The  reader  may  have  remarked  that  while  these  venera- 
ble pioneers  were  apt  to  name  their  sons  after  one  of 
the  patriarchs,  prophets,  or  twelve  apostles,  with 
now  and  then  a  selection  from  the  kings  of  England, 
they  gave  poetical  or  fanciful  names  to  their  daughters 
—Cynthia,  Roscinda,  Lillis,  or  Juliette.  Cynthia 
\Mnslow  was  married  to  Samuel  King,  and  was 
the  mother  of  the  well-known  and  talented  Junius  and 
Albert  King.  Roscinda  Winslow  married  her  cousin, 
William  J.  Wilson,  and  their  daughter,  Mary  Wilson, 
became  the  wife  of  Ezekiel  Polk— the  grandfather  of 
the  President,  James  Knox  Polk.  Our  illustrious 
North  Carolina  statesman,  the  late  Hon.  William  A. 
Graham,  was  also  a  descendant  of  Mary,  the  sister  of 
Moses  Winslow.  So  likewise  was  Col.  Isaac  Hayne, 
of  Charleston,  with  numerous  other  prominent  and 
influential  citizens.  The  old  homesteads  have  fallen 
to  ruins,  and  the  plowshare  of  strangers,  who  never 
heard  the  names  of  these  noble  old  families,  runs 
smoothly  over  the  ground  where  their  altar  fires  once 
burned  brightly.  Emigration  has  borne  them  away, 
and  in  the  new  States  the  old  names  are  found.  But 
North  Carolina  should  treasure  up  their  history  as  an 


1 68  HISTORY   OF  ROWAN   COUNTY 

incentive  to  noble  deeds  in  the  days  of  trial  yet  to 
come. 

Before  closing  these  sketches,  I  must  put  on  record 
all  that  is  known  here  of  the  history  of  one  who  left 
his  name  on  the  records  of  our  Courts  and  Com- 
mittees. 

William  Kennon 

appears  prominent  among  the  actors  in  public  affairs 
at  the  opening  and  during  the  first  years  of  the  war. 
He  was  a  lawyer,  and  it  is  supposed  that  he  came  to 
Salisbury  from  Wilmington,  or  from  some  other  por- 
tion of  Eastern  Carolina.  On  the  twenty-fifth  of  Au- 
gust, 1775,  he  represented  the  town  of  Salisbury  in 
the  Provincial  Congress  at  Newbern.  As  early  as 
the  eighth  of  August,  1774,  he  was  chosen  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Rowan  Committee  of  Safety,  and  on  the 
twenty-seventh  of  September  of  the  same  year,  he  ap- 
pears as  chairman  of  this  Committee,  with  Adlai  Os- 
borne as  Clerk.  Colonel  Kennon  was  a  very  zealous 
patriot,  and  his  name  appears  among  the  signers  of 
the  Mecklenburg  Declaration  of  May  20,  1775.  The 
appearance  of  his  name  on  that  paper  can  be  accounted 
for  only  on  the  theory  that  the  Mecklenburg  patriots 
had  no  very  rigorous  committee  on  credentials  on 
that  occasion.  Colonel  Kennon  seems  to  have  been 
the  prime  mover  in  the  abduction  of  John  Dunn  and 
Benjamin  Boothe  Boote,  Esqs.  Whether  the  young 
lawyer,  so  popular  among  the  people,  was  jealous  of 
the  old  lawyers,  who  got  the  most  of  the  legal  business 
of  Salisbury,  or  whether  the  old  lawyers,  always  the 


MEMBERS  OF  THE  PROVINCIAL  CONGRESS  169 

most  conservative,  and  constitutional  sticklers  for  prec- 
edent, moved  too  slowly  for  the  ardent  patriotism  of 
the  young  lawyer,  it  is  impossible  at  this  late  date  to 
determine.  But  this  much  appears  to  be  true — that 
somewhere  about  August,  1774,  John  Dunn,  B.  B. 
Boote,  Wallace  Lindsay,  and  one  other  man,  signed  a 
paper  containing  a  general  declaration  of  fidelity,  al- 
legiance, obedience,  and  submission  to  the  British  Acts 
of  Parliament.  This  paper  seems  to  have  been  a  kind 
of  private  protest  against  rebellion,  kept  by  ^Ir.  Boote 
for  future  emergencies.  The  parties  signing  it  do  not 
appear  to  have  taken  any  public  steps  against  the 
movement  then  in  progress,  but  as  crown  officers  con- 
tented themselves  with  the  quiet  discharge  of  duty. 
The  paper,  however,  or  a  copy  of  it,  got  out  among 
the  people,  and  aroused  suspicion.  At  the  instance  of 
Colonel  Kennon,  Dunn  and  Boote  were  hurried  off  in 
the  night  to  Charlotte,  thence  to  Camden,  and  ulti- 
mately to  Charleston.  The  conduct  of  Colonel  Kennon 
was  deemed  arbitrary  and  malicious  by  some  of  the 
citizens  of  Salisbury,  and  Dr.  Anthony  Newman,  and 
others,  men  of  unimpeachable  patriotism,  presented  a 
petition  to  the  Committee  embodying  the  idea  that  the 
affair  was  arbitrary  and  malicious.  Be  that  as  it 
may,  Dunn  and  Boote  never  got  a  hearing,  though  they 
prayed  to  be  heard,  and  were  kept  in  confinement  for 
many  weary  months  in  Charleston. 

Just  at  this  point  it  becomes  necessary  to  correct  an 
error  which  Colonel  Wheeler  published,  and  which  has 
been  repeated  by  other  writers  since.  It  is  that  John 
Dunn  and  B.  B.  Boote  never  returned  to  North  Caro- 


170  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN"   COUNTY 

lina,  but  after  the  war  was  over  settled  in  Florida. 
This  leaves  these  two  gentlemen  in  the  attitude  of  per- 
manent disaffection  to  the  cause  of  American  liberty ; 
but  there  is  abundance  of  proof  in  the  records  of 
Rowan  Court  to  prove  that  both  returned  and  con- 
ducted themselves  as  good  and  patriotic  citizens,  at  an 
early  period  of  the  War  of  Independence.  In  ]\Iarch, 
1777,  B.  B.  Boote  bought  a  tract  of  land  in  Salisbury, 
and  proved  a  deed  in  open  Court.  On  the  eighth  day 
of  August,  1777,  Mr.  Boote  took  the  oath  of  expurga- 
tion for  disaffected  or  suspected  persons. 

On  the  same  day,  August  8,  1777,  John  Dunn,  Esq., 
took  the  required  oath  of  an  attorney  in  the  State  of 
North  Carolina,  and  shortly  after  this  date  he  became 
State's  Attorney  for  Rowan  County.  Certainly  at 
this  period  there  remained  not  the  least  lingering  doubt 
of  his  sympathy  with  the  cause  of  American  freedom. 
Still  further,  on  the  eighth  of  August,  1781,  five 
months  after  the  battle  of  Guilford  Courthouse,  John 
Dunn  and  ^Matthew  Troy,  Esqs.,  were  appointed 
Commissioners  by  the  County  Court,  Adlai  Osborne 
being  chairman,  to  repair  the  courthouse  in  Salisbury. 
From  this  it  would  appear  that  all  suspicion  or  un- 
friendliness, if  any  ever  existed,  had  vanished  from 
the  mind  of  the  high-toned  Osborne.  ^Ir.  Dunn  died 
in  Salisbury  in  the  early  part  of  1783.  Letters  of 
administration  on  the  estate  of  John  Dunn  were 
granted  to  Francis  Dunn  and  Spruce  ]^Iacay  on  the 
twenty-fifth  of  March,  1783.  The  traditions  of  his 
family  relate  that  he  was  taken  sick  while  pleading  a 
case  in  the  old  courthouse,  where  the  Public  Square  in 


MEMBERS  OF  THE  PROVINCIAL  CONGRESS  I7I 

Salisbury  is,  and  that  he  was  carried  down  to  a  hotel 
belonging  to  William  Temple  Coles,  where  Kluttz's 
drug  store  now  stands.  After  lingering  awhile  he 
passed  away.  His  body  was  interred  on  his  own  lands 
near  Dunn's  Mountain.  No  man  knows  where  his 
grave  is,  but  the  mountain  he  owned,  with  its  granite 
cliffs,  standing  in  full  view  of  the  Public  Square  of 
Salisbury,  is  his  monument.  There  it  stands,  a  soli- 
tary sentinel,  overlooking  not  only  the  broad  lands  he 
once  owned  and  his  unknown  grave,  but  the  very  spot 
where  for  a  quarter  -  century  he  won  laurels  as  the 
leading  lawyer  of   Salisbury  bar. 

The  events  at  the  opening  of  the  war  are  to  be  ac- 
counted for,  first  on  the  principle  that  old  men,  es- 
pecially lawyers,  are  slow  and  cautious  in  exchanging 
their  allegiance.  None  know  so  well  as  they  what 
are  the  results  that  follow  in  the  wake  of  revolution. 
They  are  in  the  habit  of  looking  at  results  and  conse- 
quences. A  second  cause  is  found  in  the  character- 
istic violence  and  intolerance  of  such  times  of  excite- 
ment and  struggle.  Reports  fly  rapidly  and  gain  ready 
credence.  That  Committee  of  Safety  actually  resolved 
that  good  old  IMaxwell  Chambers,  their  Treasurer,  be 
publicly  advertised  as  an  enemy  to  the  common  cause 
of  liberty,  for  raising  the  price  of  his  goods  above  that 
of  the  year  past.  Futhermore  Dunn  and  Boote  were 
men  of  great  influence,  and  the  easiest  way  to  dispose 
of  them  was  to  send  them  away  without  a  hearing.  No 
doubt,  if  granted  a  hearing,  they  would  have  cleared 
themselves  of  all  acts  or  purposes  of  hostility  to 
American   liberty.     But   this   the   Committee    did   not 


172  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

know.  Colonel  Kennon,  being  the  leader  in  this  affair, 
seems  to  have  removed  from  Salisbury  to  Georgia,  at 
or  about  the  time  that  Dunn  and  Boote  returned.  So 
far  as  known  to  the  writer  he  lived  an  honored  and 
useful  life  in  the  State  of  his  adoption.  One  of  his 
descendants  was  in  Salisbury  a  few  years  ago,  but  he 
knew  little  of  his  ancestor. 

Authorities:  Mrs.  H.  M.  L,  in  Southern' Home; 
Hnnfe/s  Western  North  Carolina;  Wheeler,  Records 
of  Rowan  Court;  Miss  C.  B. 


CHAPTER  XIV 


ROWAN   COUNTY   COMMITTEE   OF   SAFETY 

\Mio  sounded  the  first  note  of  liberty  in  North 
Carolina?  There  are  claimants  for  this  honor,  but 
their  claims  are  not  fully  established.  In  the  unsettled 
state  of  affairs  immediately  preceding  the  Revolution 
of  1776,  public  opinion  was  drifting  insensibly  for  a 
number  of  years  in  the  direction  of  a  higher  form  of 
civil  liberty. 

Besides  this,  many  have  confounded  liberty  with 
independence.  The  design  to  preserve  their  liberties 
was  universal  before  the  thought  of  independence 
gained  any  hold  upon  the  public  mind.  Colonel  Moore, 
in  his  History  of  North  Carolina,  affirms  that  as  late 
as  the  meeting  of  the  Continental  Congress,  in  Septem- 
ber, 1774,  there  were  but  three  men  in  America  who 
contemplated  actual  independence  of  the  crown  of 
England.  These  were  Patrick  Henry  of  Virginia,  Vil- 
liam  Hooper  of  North  Carolina,  and  Samuel  Adams  of 
Massachusetts.  These  three  had  given  utterance  to 
sentiments  of  independence,  but  the  Congress  avowed 
its  loyalty  to  the  King,  and  protested  its  devotion  to 
the  British  constitution.  The  Congress  of  North  Car- 
oHna,  in  August,  1774,  protested  the  same  loyalty; 
but  at  the  same  time  there  were  opinions  on  the  sub- 
ject of  human  rights,  and  plans  and  purposes  on  the 


174  HISTORY   OF   ROWAX    COUNTY 

subject  of  trade  and  taxation,  and  resolves  on  the  mat- 
ter of  a  union  of  the  colonies,  whose  inevitable  con- 
sequence was  the  ultimate  independence  of  the  colon- 
ies, unless  the  British  Parliament  should  recede  from 
the  position  they  had  deliberately  chosen.  It  matters 
little  who  first  called  for  independence,  provided  we 
know  who  first  avowed  the  principles  that  inevitably 
led  to  that  result. 

Without  claiming  that  these  principles  were  first 
conceived  in  Rowan  County,  or  even  that  they  were 
first  avowed  here,  from  the  documentary  evidence 
before  the  public  for  thirty  years  it  may  be  affirmed 
that  the  first  recorded  adoption  of  these  principles  oc- 
curred in  Salisbury.  Nearly  a  year  before  the  patri- 
otic citizens  of  Mecklenburg  adopted  their  famous 
"Resolves"  of  the  thirty-first  of  May,  which  so  ir- 
ritated Governor  Martin,  and  provoked  his  angry  let- 
ter from  the  lower  Cape  Fear;  and  nearly  two  years 
before  the  National  Declaration  of  Independence,  the 
citizens  of  Rowan  adopted  a  paper  that  contains  the 
germs  of  independence.  This  was  on  the  eighth  of 
August,  1774.  The  evidence  of  this  is  found  in  the 
Journal  of  the  Committee  of  Safety  of  Rowan  County, 
found  recorded  on  pp.  36062  of  Colonel  Wheeler's 
Sketches  of  North  Carolina,  Vol.  II.  This  document 
was  discovered  in  Iredell  County,  among  the  papers  of 
the  Sharpe  family,  by  the  Rev.  E.  F.  Rockwell,  and 
published  by  Colonel  Wheeler  in  1851.  William 
Sharpe  was  the  last  secretary  of  the  Committee,  and 
preserved  the  Minutes  that  were  found  in  the  hands 


ROWAN   COUNTY   COMMITTEE   OF   SAFETY  1 75 

of  his  descendants.  Colonel  A\heeler  vouches  for  the 
genuineness  of  the  document. 

This  Committee  of  Safety  began  its  sessions,  ac- 
cording to  these  Alinutes,  on  the  eighth  of  August, 
1774,  seventeen  days  before  the  assembhng  of  the  first 
North  Carolina  Provincial  Congress.  This  com- 
mittee was  probably  chosen  at  the  time  appointed  for 
electing  members  to  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Province,  or  it  may  have  come  into  existence  before 
that  time  in  obedience  to  the  wishes  of  the  people. 
The  members  of  the  committee  were  chosen  from  all 
parts  of  this  grand  old  county,  and  numbered  twenty- 
five.  The  following  is  a  list  of  their  names:  James 
McCay,  Andrew  Xeal,  George  Cathey,  Alexander 
Dobbins,  Francis  McCorkle,  Matthew  Locke,  ^Maxwell 
Chambers,  Henry  Harmon,  Abraham  Denton,  William 
Davidson,  Samuel  Young,  John  Brevard,  \\'illiam 
Kennon,  George  Henry  Barringer,  Robert  Bell,  John 
Bickerstafif,  John  Cowden,  John  Lewis  Beard,  John 
Nesbit,  Charles  :\IcDowell,  Robert  Blackburn,  Christo- 
pher Beekman,  William  Sharpe,  John  Johnson,  and 
Morgan  Bryan. 

At  their  first  recorded  meeting,  August  8,  1774,  this 
committee  adopted  seventeen  resolutions  upon  public 
affairs,  showing  that  they  were  in  the  very  forefront 
of  Hberal  and  patriotic  opinions. 

As  this  paper  is  not  generally  known,  we  give  it 
entire. 

"At  a  meeting  of  the  committee,  August  8,  1774,  the 
following  resolves  were  unanimously  agreed  to : 


176  HISTORY  OF   ROWAX    COUNTY 

Resolved,  That  we  will  at  all  times,  whenever  we  are 
called  upon  for  that  purpose,  maintain  and  defend,  at 
the  expense  of  our  lives  and  fortunes,  His  ^Majesty's 
right  and  title  to  the  crown  of  Great  Britain  and  his 
dominions  in  America,  to  whose  royal  person  and  gov- 
ernment we  profess  all  due  obedience  and  fidelity. 

Resolved,  That  the  right  to  impose  taxes  or  duties, 
to  be  paid  by  the  inhabitants  within  this  Province,  for 
any  purpose  whatsoever,  is  peculiar  and  essential  to 
the  General  Assembly,  in  whom  the  legislative 
authority  of  the  colony  is  vested. 

Resolved,  That  every  attempt  to  impose  such  taxes 
or  duties  by  any  other  authority  is  an  arbitrary  exer- 
tion of  power,  and  an  infringement  of  the  constitu- 
tional rights  and  liberties  of  the  colony. 

Resolved,  That  to  impose  a  tax  or  duty  on  tea  by 
the  British  Parliament,  in  which  the  Xorth  American 
Colonies  can  have  no  representation,  to  be  paid  upon 
importation  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  said  colonies,  is 
an  act  of  power  without  right.  It  is  subversive  to  the 
liberties  of  the  said  colonies,  deprives  them  of  their 
property  without  their  own  consent,  and  thereby 
reduces  them  to  a  state  of  slavery. 

Resolved,  That  the  late  cruel  and  sanguinary  acts 
of  Parliament,  to  be  executed  by  military  force  and 
ships  of  war  upon  our  sister  colony  of  ^lassachusetts 
Bay  and  town  of  Boston,  is  a  strong  evidence  of  the 
corrupt  influence  obtained  by  the  British  ^Ministry  in 
Parliament,  and  a  convincing  proof  of  their  fixed  in- 
tention to  deprive  the  colonies  of  their  constitutional 
rights  and  liberties. 


ROWAN    COUNTY   COMMITTEE  OF   SAFETY  1 77 

Resolved,  That  the  cause  of  the  toztni  of  Boston  is 
the  common  cause  of  the  American  Colonies. 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  duty  and  interest  of  all  the 
American  Colonies  firmly  to  unite  in  an  indissoluble 
union  and  association,  to  oppose  by  every  just  and 
proper  means  the  infringement  of  their  common 
rights  and  privileges. 

Resolved,  That  a  general  association  between  all  the 
American  Colonies  not  to  import  from  Great  Britain 
any  comm.odity  whatsoever  (except  such  things  as 
shall  be  hereafter  excepted  by  the  General  Congress 
of  this  Province),  ought  to  be  entered  into,  and  not 
dissolved  till  the  just  rights  of  the  colonies  are  re- 
stored to  them,  and  the  cruel  acts  of  the  British  Par- 
liament against  the  Massachusetts  Bay  and  town  of 
Boston  are  repealed. 

Resolved,  That  no  friend  to  the  rights  and  liberties 
of  America  ought  to  purchase  any  commodity  what- 
soever, except  such  as  shall  be  excepted,  which  shall 
be  imported  from  Great  Britain  after  the  General  As- 
sociation shall  be  agreed  upon. 

Resolved,  That  every  kind  of  luxury,  dissipation, 
and  extravagance  ought  to  be  banished  from  among  us. 

Resolved,  That  manufacturers  ought  to  be  en- 
couraged by  opening  subscriptions  for  that  purpose, 
or  by  any  other  proper  means. 

Resolved,  That  the  African  slave  trade  is  injurious 
to  this  colony,  obstructs  the  population  of  it  by  free 
men,  prevents  manufacturers  and  other  useful  immi- 
grants from  Europe  from  settling  among  us,  and  oc- 


178  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN    COUNTY 

casions  an   annual   increase   of   the  balance   of   trade 
against  the  colonies. 

Resolved,  That  the  raising  of  sheep,  hemp,  and 
flax  ought  to  be  encouraged. 

Resolved,  That  to  be  clothed  in  manufactures 
fabricated  in  the  colonies  ought  to  be  considered  as  a 
badge  of  distinction,  of  respect,  and  true  patriotism. 

Resolved,  That  Messrs.  Samuel  Young  and  Moses 
Winslow,  for  the  County  of  Rowan,  and  for  the  town 
of  Salisbury,  William  Kennon,  Esq.,  be,  and  they  are 
hereby,  nominated  and  appointed  Deputies  upon  the 
part  of  the  inhabitants  and  freeholders  of  this  county, 
and  town  of  Salisbury,  to  meet  such  Deputies  as  shall 
be  appointed  by  the  other  counties  and  corporations 
within  this  colony,  at  Johnston  Courthouse,  the  twen- 
tieth of  this  instant. 

Resolved,  That,  at  this  important  and  alarming 
crisis,  it  be  earnestly  recommended  to  the  said  Depu- 
ties at  their  General  Convention,  that  they  nominate 
and  appoint  one  proper  person  out  of  each  district  of 
this  Province,  to  meet  such  Deputies  in  a  General 
Congress,  as  shall  be  appointed  upon  the  part  of  the 
other  Continental  Colonies  in  America,  to  consult  and 
agree  upon  a  firm  and  indissoluble  union  and  associa- 
tion, for  preserving,  by  the  best  and  most  proper 
means,  their  common  rights  and  liberties. 

Resolved,  That  this  colony  ought  not  to  trade  with 
any  colony  which  shall  refuse  to  join  in  any  union  and 
association  that  shall  be  agreed  upon  by  the  greater 
part  of  the  other  colonies  on  this  continent,  for 
preserving  their  common  rights  and  liberties." 


ROWAN   COUNTY   COMMITTEE  OF   SAFETY  1 79 

An  analysis  of  these  resolves  shows  that  these 
early  patriots  comprehended  all  the  great  doctrines  of 
civil  liberty.  They  began  with  the  profession  of  loy- 
alty to  their  king.  An  examination  of  a  large  number 
of  similar  papers  adopted  about  the  same  time,  in 
Virginia  and  in  the  more  northern  colonies,  reveals 
the  same  acknowledgment  of  loyalty  to  the  House  of 
Hanover.  To  have  omitted  it  would  have  been  evi- 
dence of  treasonable  designs.  Men  educated  under 
monarchical  rule  sometimes  affirm  their  loyalty  in 
amusing  ways.  The  Parliament  of  England,  in  the 
days  of  Charles  I.,  levied  war  against  the  king  in  the 
name  of  the  king  himself,  for  his  own  good.  In  the 
case  of  the  Revolutionary  patriots,  there  is  little  reason 
to  doubt  the  genuineness  of  their  professions  in  the 
early  days  of  the  struggle.  They  entertained  hopes  of 
securing  their  liberties  by  the  repeal  of  the  odious 
laws,  as  they  had  done  in  the  matter  of  the  stamp 
duties  several  years  before. 

In  the  next  place  they  firmly  declared  that  no  per- 
son had  a  right  to  levy  taxes  upon  them  except  their 
own  representatives  in  Assembly.  This  was  the  pivot 
on  which  the  whole  matter  turned.  And  to  prevent 
the  arbitrary  imposition  of  taxes,  they  proposed  an  in- 
dissoluble union  and  association  of  all  the  American 
Colonies,  and  do  all  in  their  power  towards  securing 
this  union,  by  appointing  Deputies  to  a  Provincial 
Congress  and  recommending  those  Deputies  to  secure 
the  appointment  of  representatives  to  a  Continental 
Congress.     The  other  resolutions  concerning  luxury, 


l8o  HISTORY   OF   ROW  AX   COUNTY 

home  manufacture,  the  slave  trade,  and  sympathy  with 
Boston,  are  subordinate  to  the  others. 

Having  affirmed  their  pohtical  creed,  the  Committee 
adjourned  until  the  twenty-second  of  September,  1774. 
At  the  next  meeting,  William  Kennon  appears  as  chair- 
man and  Adlai  Osborne  as  clerk.  Their  first  business 
was  to  read  and  approve  the  resolves  of  the  Provincial 
Congress  that  had  met  in  the  interval,  and  take  steps 
towards  carrying  them  out.  ]\Iaxwell  Chambers  was 
appointed  treasurer  of  the  committee,  and  an  order 
issued  that  each  militia  company  in  the  county  pay 
twenty  pounds  (£20),  proclamation  money,  into  his 
hands.  As  there  were  nine  companies  of  militia  in  the 
county,  this  would  aggregate  the  sum  of  one  hundred 
and  eighty  pounds  (£180),  or  between  four  and  five 
hundred  dollars.  This  money  was  to  be  used  by  the 
committee  at  discretion,  for  the  purchase  of  powder, 
flints,  and  other  military  munitions.  This  conduct,  as 
early  as  September,  1774,  showed  that  the  idea  of  re- 
sistance was  growing  up  rapidly  in  the  minds  of  the 
patriots  of  Rowan.  This  committee  fixed  the  price  of 
powder,  and  examined  carefully  into  the  political  senti- 
ments of  the  people.  If  they  were  not  satisfied  with  a 
man's  conduct,  they  did  not  hesitate  to  declare  him  an 
enemy  to  liberty,  and  to  put  him  under  suitable  re- 
straints. They  also,  in  after  days,  took  control  of  Court 
matters,  allowing  some  to  enter  suits  against  others,  and 
forbidding  some.  No  doubt  many  of  their  acts  were 
arbitrary  in  a  high  degree,  and  sometimes  an  infringe- 
ment of  the  liberty  they  proposed  to  protect.  But  when 
the  storm  of  war  was  about  to  break  upon  the  country. 


ROWAX    COUXTY    COMMITTEE   OF    SAFETY  l8l 

the  committee  acted  vigorously,  awaking  zeal,  sup- 
pressing disaffection,  embodying  militia  companies, 
providing  ammunition,  and  doing  all  they  could  to  sup- 
port the  cause  of  freedom.  Xor  did  they  confine  them- 
selves to  deliberation,  but  they  took  the  field.  General 
Rutherford,  Colonel  Locke,  Gen.  William  Davidson, 
and  others,  won  for  themselves  honorable  names  in 
many  a  march  and  skirmish,  and  many  a  hard-fought 
battle. 


CHAPTER  XV 


MILITARY    AFFAIRS 

The  Provincial  Congress  of  North  Carolina  held 
its  fourth  meeting  at  Halifax,  beginning  on  the  fourth 
of  April,  1776.  Rowan  was  represented  by  Griffith 
Rutherford  and  Matthew  Locke.  This  Congress  was 
fully  aware  that  the  General  Congress  at  Philadelphia 
was  continuously  moving  towards  a  general  declara- 
tion of  independence,  and  was  in  full  sympathy  with  it. 
The  North  Carolina  statesmen  were  well  aware  that 
independence  could  not  be  achieved  except  by  a  fear- 
ful struggle  against  the  military  power  of  Britain.  In 
order  to  be  ready  for  this  emergency,  the  judicial  dis- 
tricts were  made  into  military  districts,  and  a  Briga- 
dier-General appointed  for  each.  Griffith  Rutherford 
was  appointed  General  for  the  Salisbury  district.  In 
Rowan  County  there  were  two  regiments  and  two 
sets  of  field  officers.  Of  the  first  regiment,  Francis 
Locke  was  Colonel;  Alexander  Dobbins,  Lieutenant- 
Colonel;  and  James  Brandon  and  James  Smith,  Ma- 
jors. Of  the  second  regiment  (up  the  Catawba 
River),  Christopher  Beekman  was  Colonel;  Charles 
McDowell,  Lieutenant-Colonel;  and  Hugh  Brevard 
and  George  Wilfong,  Majors.  Among  the  Company 
officers,  we  notice  Captains  Robert  Smith,  William 
Temple  Coles,  Thomas  Haines,  and  Jesse  Saunders,, 


184  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN"   COUNTY 

with  Lieutenants  William  Brownfield,  James  Carr, 
William  Caldwell,  David  Craige,  Thomas  Pickett,  Wil- 
liam Clover,  John  Madaris,  and  Pleasant  Henderson. 
Among  the  officers  of  Light  Horse  Companies,  we 
notice  Martin  Phif  er,  Captain ;  James  Sumner, 
Lieutentant;  and  Valentine  Beard,  Cornet.  These 
were  all^  or  nearly  all,  from  Rowan  County.  This 
military  organization  was  intended  for  active  service, 
whenever  emergencies  should  arise.  And  the  emer- 
gency for  calling  out  the  soldiers  of  the  Salisbury  dis- 
trict soon  arose.  Early  in  July  of  the  same  year, 
General  Rutherford  led  nineteen  hundred  men  across 
the  mountains  to  scourge  and  hold  in  check  the  Chero- 
kees.  This  was  more  of  an  excursion  than  a  war,  for 
there  was  no  open  enemy  to  face,  nothing  but  hills  and 
mountains  and  rivers  to  be  overcome,  and  a  secret 
enemy  waylaying  their  march  and  firing  upon  them 
from  the  wilderness,  or  from  inaccessible  crags  along 
their  way.  But  the  object  was  accomplished,  and  the 
Cherokees  were  compelled  to  sue  for  peace. 

In  the  organization  and  drill  of  these  military  com- 
panies strange  scenes  were  sometimes  enacted.  Min- 
gled among  the  patriots  there  were  often  men  dis- 
affected to  the  cause  of  freedom.  Some  of  these  men 
had  been  Regulators  a  few  years  before,  and  at  the 
conclusion  of  that  contest,  terrible  oaths  had  been  im- 
posed upon  them,  which  now  entangled  their  con- 
sciences. When  the  Declaration  of  Independence  had 
been  made,  and  it  was  understood  that  they  might 
soon  be  called  to  fight  against  the  troops  of  England, 
the  disaffected  began  to  draw  back,  while  the  \\^higs 


MILITARY    AFFAIRS  155 

were  for  moving  forward.  In  the  Company  from  the 
forks  of  the  Yadkin  one  of  these  strange  scenes  was 
once  enacted.  Captain  Bryan  of  that  Company  was 
disaffected,  while  the  Heutenant,  Richmond  Pearson, 
was  a  \\'hig.  On  the  muster,  a  dispute  arose  upon 
poHtical  matters  between  these  two  officers,  and  the 
Company  decided  that  this  great  national  question 
should  be  decided  by  a  fair  fist-fight  between  the  cap- 
tain and  the  lieutenant,  and  that  the  Company  should 
go  with  the  victor.  The  fight  came  off  in  due  time  and 
manner,  and  Lieutenant  Pearson  succeeded  in  giving 
Captain  Bryan  a  sound  thrashing.  The  Forks  Com- 
pany after  that  became  zealous  Whigs,  while  the 
crowd  from  Dutchman's  Creek  followed  Captain 
Bryan  and  became  Tories.  Captain  Pearson  with  his 
Company  took  the  field  against  Lord  Cornwallis  as  he 
passed  through  North  Carolina.  They  were  present 
at  Cowan's  Ford  on  the  first  of  February,  1781,  when 
General  Davidson  fell.  Captain  Pearson  was  the 
grandfather  of  the  Hon.  Richmond  'M.  Pearson,  the 
distinguished  Chief  Justice  of  North  Carolina  for  so 
many  years. 

Captain  Bryan  became  a  confirmed  loyalist,  and  was 
the  notorious  Colonel  Bryan,  who  according  to  Dr. 
Caruthers,  on  the  spur  of  the  moment  collected  eight 
hundred  Tories  in  the  Forks  of  the  Yadkin,  and 
marched  them  off  to  Anson  Courthouse  to  the  British. 
While  Colonel  Fanning  headed  the  Loyalists  in  the 
region  of  Deep  River  and  the  upper  Cape  Fear,  and 
Colonels  ^IcNeil,  Ray,  Graham,  and  McDougal  did 
the  same  for  the  region  of  the  lower  Cape  Fear  and 


1 86  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN    COUNTY 

Pee  Dee,  and  Col.  Johnson  Moore,  with  ]\Iajor  Welch, 
and  Captains  Whitson  and  Murray,  sustained  the 
Loyalists'  cause  in  Lincoln,  Burke,  and  Rutherford 
Counties,  Colonels  Bryan  and  Hampton,  and  ]\Iajor 
Elrod  were  the  Tory  leaders  of  Rowan  County.  The 
chief  field  of  their  operations  was  the  region  called 
the  Forks  of  the  Yadkin.  This  was  an  extensive  tract, 
lying  between  the  main  Yadkin  and  the  South  Fork, 
beginning  at  the  junction  of  these  two  streams  about 
five  miles  from  SaHsbury,  called  "The  Point,''  and 
extending  from  "The  Point"  northward  and  westward 
for  a  distance  of  forty  or  fifty  miles.  There  Colonel 
Bryan  ranged  over  plains  and  hills,  through  the 
Brushy  Mountains,  to  the  foothills  of  the  Blue  Ridge. 
He  was  connected  with  Colonel  Fanning's  troop  only 
in  a  general  way,  and  does  not  seem  to  have  been,  like 
him,  a  cruel  and  bloodthirsty  man.  In  1781,  Colonel 
Bryan  headed  his  troop  of  Loyalists  in  the  partisan 
warfare  in  South  Carolina.  He  was  under  Major 
Carden,  at  the  military  post  established  by  Lord  Raw- 
don,  at  Hanging  Rock,  in  South  Carolina,  in  1781. 
Major  William  R.  Davie,  of  North  Carolina,  with  his 
cavalry  troop  and  some  ^Mecklenburg  militia,  under 
Colonel  Higgins,  hastened  to  attack  this  post  at  Hang- 
ing Rock.  As  he  was  approaching  he  learned  that 
three  Companies  of  Bryan's  Loyalists  were  encamped 
at  a  farmhouse,  on  their  return  from  a  foraging  ex- 
pedition. He  immediately  went  in  search  of  them, 
and  soon  made  a  vigorous  attack  upon  them  in  front 
and  rear,  completely  routing  them,  and  killing  or 
wounding  all  of  them  but  a  few.     The  spoils  of  this 


MILITARY    AFFAIRS  187 

victory  were  sixty  horses  and  one  hundred  muskets. 
Major  Davie,  though  an  EngHshman  by  birth,  was  a 
law  student  in  Salisbury  during  the  first  years  of  the 
war.  In  1779  he  was  elected  Lieutenant  in  a  troop 
of  Horse  raised  in  Mecklenburg  and  the  Waxhaws, 
and  was  attached  to  Pulaski's  legion.  He  soon  rose  to 
the  rank  of  Major;  but  being  wounded  in  the  battle  of 
Stono,  below  Charleston,  he  returned  to  Salisbury  and 
resumed  his  studies.  In  the  winter  of  1780  he  again 
raised  a  troop  of  cavalry,  and  in  the  absence  of  any 
statement  to  the  contrary  we  would  naturally  infer 
that  his  Company  was  raised  in  Rowan  County,  es- 
pecially since  Lieut.  George  Locke,  of  Rowan,  was  in 
it.  It  was  with  these  troops,  and  the  Alecklenburg 
militia,  that  he  cut  to  pieces  Colonel  Bryan's  Com- 
panies at  Hanging  Rock.  It  was  thus  that  our  people 
were  arrayed  against  each  other  in  this  terrible  strug- 
gle for  liberty. 

Colonel  Bryan  was  afterwards  tried  by  the  Courts  of 
North  Carolina  for  disloyalty  to  his  country,  but  no 
act  of  inhumanity  was  proved  against  him,  and  no 
charge  was  made  out  except  that  of  being  in  arms 
against  his  country. 

From  the  time  that  Lord  Cornwallis  left  the  lower 
Cape  Fear,  in  the  early  part  of  1775,  until  1780,  there 
were  few  if  any  British  troops  in  North  Carolina. 
But  during  all  these  four  years  the  flower  of  the 
North  Carolina  soldiery  were  far  from  their  homes — 
in  the  north  under  General  Washington,  or  in  the 
South  under  General  Lincoln,  Gates,  or  other  National 
Commanders.     Thus  we  read  in  history  that  the  North 


1 88  HISTORY  OF   ROWAX   COUNTY 

Carolina  Continentals  and  a  brigade  of  militia  under 
Gen.  John  Ashe  were  present  at  Charleston,  June  8, 
1776,  when  Sir  Peter  Parker  was  beaten  off  from  Fort 
Moultrie  on  Sullivan's  Island.  At  the  same  time.  Gen- 
eral Rutherford  of  Rowan,  with  Colonels  Polk  of 
Mecklenburg,  and  Martin  of  Guilford,  marched  nine- 
teen hundred  men  against  the  Indians  in  what  is  now 
Tennessee.  Early  in  1777  the  North  Carolina  Con- 
tinentals went  to  the  support  of  General  A\'ashington 
in  the  North.  The  whole  of  the  North  Carolina  Con- 
tinentals were  with  General  Washington  at  the  battle 
of  Brandywine,  September  11,  1777.  North  Carolin- 
ians were  also  at  the  battle  of  Princeton.  At  German- 
town  also  North  Carolina  troops  made  for  themselves 
a  glorious  record,  and  on  that  fatal  field  was  poured 
out  some  of  the  best  blood  of  the  State.  There  Gen. 
Francis  Nash,  of  Orange  County,  brother  of  Gov. 
Abner  Nash,  commanded  a  brigade  under  General 
^\'ashington,  and  fell  in  battle.  There  too  fell  Col. 
Edward  Buncombe  and  Colonel  Irwin,  besides  a 
large  number  of  subalterns  and  privates.  In  1778  the 
North  Carolina  Continentals  were  found  engaged  in 
the  battle  of  ]\Ionmouth.  Shortly  after  this  time  all 
the  North  Carolina  battaHons,  except  the  third  and 
fifth,  were  transferred  under  General  Lincoln  to 
Charleston,  S.  C.  In  1779,  we  find  two  thousand 
North  Carolina  militia,  under  General  Ashe,  at  the 
battle  of  Brier  Creek,  in  Georgia.  In  consequence  of 
the  precipitation  of  General  Lincoln  in  rushing  un- 
trained militia  upon  dangerous  ground,  this  affair  of 
Brier    Creek   was    a    sad    defeat.        But   immediately 


MILITARY    AFFAIRS  1 89 

after  this  disaster,  the  North  Carolina  Assembly  or- 
dered the  enrollment  of  eight  thousand  new  levies. 
These  were  placed  under  the  command  of  Gen.  Rich- 
ard Caswell.  In  the  year  1779,  General  Lincoln's 
forces  at  Charleston  consisted  chiefly  of  six  North 
Carolina  battalions.  These,  by  years  of  service,  had 
become  veterans.  General  Lincoln  placed  these  bat- 
talions in  the  center,  while  Major  William  R.  Davie 
with  his  mounted  troops  led  on  the  right,  at  the  bloody 
battle  of  Stono.  And  when,  on  the  twelfth  of  ]May, 
1780,  General  Lincoln  surrendered  Charleston  to  Sir 
Henry  Clinton,  all  the  North  Carolina  Continentals 
and  a  thousand  of  her  militia  became  prisoners  of 
war.  This  was  a  terrible  blow  to  North  CaroHna,  at 
this  particular  juncture.  Lord  CornwaUis  at  once 
assumed  charge  of  the  British  forces  and  marched  to- 
wards North  Carolina,  at  the  very  time  when  her  en- 
tire forces  of  trained  soldiers  were  consigned  to  an 
enforced  military  inactivity.  But  to  make  matters 
worse,  General  Caswell,  with  a  considerable  portion  of 
the  North  Carolina  militia,  became  connected  with 
General  Gates'  army,  and  on  the  fifteenth  and  six- 
teenth of  August  of  the  same  year,  sustained  the  dis- 
astrous defeat  near  Camden,  S.  C.  General  Ruther- 
ford with  Colonels  Lockhart  and  Geddy  were  among 
the  captives.  Alajor  Davie  with  his  small  band  of 
troopers  still  hovered  around  the  \\'axhaws,  while 
Gens.  Jethro  Sumner  and  William  Davidson  still  kept 
the  field  with  a  few  North  Carolina  militia  on  the  bor- 


190  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

ders  of  the  State.  But  even  these  were  pressed  back 
as  far  as  Charlotte  by  the  British  forces.  With  one 
hundred  and  fifty  cavalry,  and  fourteen  volunteers 
under  Major  Graham,  Colonel  Davie  gave  Tarleton's 
legion  a  warm  reception  at  Charlotte  Courthouse.  But 
they  could  not  hold  their  ground  against  overwhelm- 
ing numbers.  Retreating  on  the  Salisbury  Road,  a 
skirmish  occurred  between  Charlotte  and  Sugar 
Creek  Church,  at  which  Lieut.  George  Locke  was  slain. 
Lord  Cornwallis  did  not  remain  long  at  Charlotte.  So 
hostile  were  the  people,  and  so  much  did  bodies  of 
armed  men  harrass  his  troops  on  their  foraging  ex- 
cursions, that  Cornwallis  bestowed  upon  that  section 
the  name  of  the  ''Hornets'  Xest,"  a  name  that  every 
patriotic  son  of  Mecklenburg  cherishes  as  fondly  as 
an  EngHshman  does  the  titles  of  knighthood,  or  the 
decorations  of  the  Star  and  Garter.  Colonel  Tarle- 
ton  says :  ''It  was  evident,  and  had  been  frequently 
mentioned  to  the  King's  officers,  that  the  Counties  of 
Mecklenburg  and  Rohan  (Rowan)  were  more  hostile 
to  England  than  any  others  in  America.  The  vigilance 
and  animosity  of  these  surrounding  districts  checked 
the  exertions  of  the  well  affected,  and  totally  destroyed 
all  communications  between  the  King's  troops  and 
Loyalists  in  other  parts  of  the  Province.  Xo  British 
commander  could  obtain  any  information  in  that  posi- 
tion which  would  facilitate  his  designs,  or  guide  his 
future  conduct."  Steadman  says  that  the  only  way 
they  could  secure  their  foraging  parties  from  destruc- 


MILITARY    AFFAIRS  I9I 

tion  was  for  Lord  Rawdon  to  take  one-half  of  the 
army  one  day,  and  Colonel  Webster  the  other  half  the 
next  day,  to  protect  them  from  the  inhabitants. 

Owing  to  these  causes,  and  further,  to  the  destruc- 
tion of  Ferguson  at  King's  Mountain,  on  the  seventh 
of  October,  Lord  Cornwallis  determined  to  return  to 
South  Carolina. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  matters  in  North  Carolina 
at  the  time  when  Lord  Cornwallis  re-entered  the 
State,  the  twentieth  of  January,   1781. 

During  this  time  the  able-bodied  men  were  either  in 
the  troops  of  Colonels  Davie,  Locke,  or  Gen.  William 
Davidson,  or  were  prisoners  of  war,  or  on  parole,  and 
therefore  prevented  from  taking  up  arms.     As  a  con- 
sequence the  women  of  that  day  were  left  at  home, 
often  entirely  unprotected,  or  with  only  the  old  men 
and  the  boys,  the  former  too  old,  the  latter  too  young, 
for  military  duty.     But  these  ladies  were  the  mothers, 
wives,   daughters,  sisters,  and  sweethearts  of  heroes 
on    the   tented   field,    and   their   hearts   burned    with 
patriotic  feelings.     Those  whom  they  loved  were  ex- 
posed to  hardship  and  danger  in  behalf  of  their  homes 
and  families,  and  thus  the  love  of  the  patriots'  cause 
was  not  with  them  an  abstraction,  or  a  sentiment,  but 
an  undying  passion.     As  an  illustration  of  this,  we 
quote  from  Lossing's  'Tictorial  Field  Book  (Vol.  II, 
p.  626.  note  2)  :     **On  one  occasion,  the  young  ladies 
of  Mecklenburg  and  Rowan  entered  into  a  pledge  not 
to  receive  the  attentions  of  young  men  who  would  not 


192  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

volunteer  in  defense  of  the  country,  they  being  of  the 
opinion  that  such  persons  as  stay  loitering  at  home, 
when  the  important  calls  of  the  country  demand  their 
military  services  abroad,  must  certainly  be  destitute  of 
that  nobleness  of  sentiment,  that  brave  and  manly 
spirit,  which  would  qualify  them  to  be  the  defenders 
and  guardians  of  the  fair  sex."  (From  South  Caro- 
lina Gazette,  February,  1780.)  As  early  as  May  8, 
1776,  the  young  ladies  of  Rowan  had  taken  important 
action  upon  this  subject.  At  a  meeting  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  Safety  of  that  date,  we  have  the  following 
entry  upon  the  Minutes,  viz. :  "A  letter  from  a  num- 
ber of  young  ladies  in  the  county,  directed  to  the 
chairman,  requesting  the  approbation  of  the  committee 
to  a  number  of  resolutions  enclosed,  entered  into,  and 
signed  by  the  same  young  ladies,  being  read ; 

''Resohed, That  this  Committee  present  their  cordial 
thanks  to  the  said  young  ladies  for  so  spirited  a  per- 
formance, look  upon  their  resolutions  to  be  sensible 
and  polite ;  that  they  merit  the  honor,  and  are  worthy 
the  imitation  of  every  young  lady  in  America." 

What  a  pity  that  we  have  not  a  copy  of  these  spirited 
resolutions,  and  the  names  of  the  fair  signers !  They 
were  probably  similar  to  those  entered  into  by  the 
Mecklenburg  and  Rowan  ladies  four  years  later,  in- 
cluding perhaps  a  resolution  in  behalf  of  simplicity  in 
dress,  abstinence  from  luxuries,  and  sympathy  with 
the  cause  of  independence,  not  yet  declared  at  Phila- 
delphia.     And   then    the    names!     Who    were   they? 


MILITARY    AFFAIRS  I93 

Daughters  of  the  Brandons,  Lockes,  Youngs,  Cham- 
berses,  Gillespies,  Osbornes,  Davidsons,  Winslows, 
Simontons,  Brevards,  Sharpes,  no  doubt;  but  the 
dainty  signatures  to  the  "spirited  performance"  are 
lost,  and  the  fair  signers  that  signed  them  have  mol- 
dered  away.  For  is  it  not  one  hundred  and  four  years 
since  all  this  was  done?  A  further  illustration  of 
matronly  zeal  and  self-denial  in  behalf  of  the  cause  of 
liberty  will  be  recited  in  its  proper  place. 


CHAPTER  XVI 


GENERAL  GREENE   AND  LORD   CORNWALLIS   IN 
ROWAN    COUNTY 

Lossing,  in  his  ''Field  Book,"  says  that  ''the  village 
of  Salisbury  is  the  capital  of  Rowan  County,  a  portion 
of  the  'Hornets'  Nest'  of  the  Revolution.  It  is  a 
place  of  considerable  historic  note.  On  account  of 
its  geographical  position  it  was  often  the  place  for  the 
rendezvous  of  the  militia  preparing  for  the  battle- 
fields of  various  regular  corps,  American  and  British, 
during  the  last  years  of  the  war,  and  especially  as  the 
brief  resting-place  of  both  armies  during  Greene's 
memorable  retreat"  (Vol.  II,  p.  615).  The  writer  is 
not  aware  that  the  British  troops  were  ever  in  Salis- 
bury, except  once,  when  Lord  Cornwallis  was  in  pur- 
suit of  General  Greene.  Mr.  Lossing  seems  to  have 
been  peculiarly  unfortunate  in  his  visit  to  Salisbury. 
He  seems  to  have  seen  nothing  there  that  had  any  his- 
toric interest,  although  the  house  occupied  by  Corn- 
wallis, as  his  headquarters,  was  still  standing  there 
(January,  1849),  besides  other  buildings  where  the 
British  officers  congregated,  as  we  shall  see.  He  seems 
however  to  have  heard  of  the  famous  Rowan  "Natural 
Wall,  "  which  he  locates  in  Salisbury,  and  supposes  to 
be  "a  part  of  the  circumvallation  of  a  city  of  the 
Mound  Builders !"    The  fact  is  that  about  three  miles 


196  HISTORY   OF  ROWAN   COUNTY 

from  Salisbury,  and  again  about  nine  miles  from  Salis- 
bury, in  the  direction  of  Mocksville,  there  are  "trap 
dikes,"  or  natural  walls  of  trap  rock,  beneath  the  sur- 
face of  the  ground,  from  twelve  to  fourteen  feet  deep, 
and  twenty-two  inches  thick,  as  Lossing  says,  that  have 
the  appearance  of  being  laid  in  cement.  But  this 
cement  is  nothing  but  a  fine  decomposition  of  the  trap 
rock  itself,  or  an  infiltration  of  fine  material  from 
without.  Air.  Lossing  does  however  give  us  in  his  book 
a  beautiful  little  moonlight  sketch  of  Trading  Ford, 
showing  the  point  of  the  island,  and  the  row  of  stakes 
that  then  stood  there  to  guard  the  stranger  from  the 
deep  water  below.  There  General  Greene,  with  Gen- 
eral Alorgan  and  his  light  troops,  crossed  the  Yadkin, 
February  2,  1781. 

After  the  unfortunate  battle  of  Camden,  August  16, 
180,  General  Gates  was  superseded  by  General 
Greene,  who  immediately  proceeded  to  his  field  of 
labor.  Passing  through  Delaware,  ^Maryland,  and  Vir- 
ginia, and  ascertaining  what  suppHes  he  was  Hkely  to 
obtain  from  these  States,  he  hastened  on  to  Charlotte, 
the  headquarters  of  the  Southern  Army,  where  he 
took  formal  command,  December  3,  1780.  Corn- 
wallis  had  fallen  back  to  \\'innsboro.  Greene  divided 
his  little  army,  sending  the  larger  portion  to  the  Pee 
Dee,  near  Cheraw,  about  seventy  miles  to  the  right  of 
Lord  Cornwallis.  The  other  portion,  consisting  of 
about  one  thousand  troops,  he  sent  under  General 
Morgan  about  fifty  miles  to  the  left  of  Cornwallis,  to 
the  junction  of  Broad  and  Pacolet  Rivers,  in  Union 
District,  S.  C.     General  IMors^an  with  his  little  force 


GREENE   AND   CORXWALLIS   IX    ROWAX  I97 

gained  the  memorable  battle  of  the  Cowpens  over 
Colonel  Tarleton,  January  17,  1781.  Colonel  Tarleton, 
with  the  remnant  of  his  troops,  retreated  precipitately 
to  the  main  army  of  Cornwallis,  while  General  Morgan 
with  his  prisoners  hastily  crossed  the  Broad  River, 
and  pressed  towards  the  Catawba,  to  effect  a  junction 
with  General  Greene.  This  brought  on  the  famous 
retreat  of  Greene,  a  military  maneuver  that  will  not 
compare  unfavorably  with  Xenophon's  famous  "Re- 
treat of  the  Ten  Thousand."  iMortified  at  the  disaster 
that  had  befallen  his  favorite  officer,  Tarleton,  and 
hoping  to  recover  the  prisoners  carried  away  by  Gen- 
eral Morgan,  Cornwallis  began  his  pursuit  on  the 
twenty-fifth  of  January.  At  Ramsour's  Mill — Lin- 
colnton — he  destroyed  all  his  superfluous  baggage,  and 
hastened  towards  the  Catawba  River,  hoping  to  over- 
take Morgan,  encumbered  as  he  was  with  prisoners, 
before  he  could  effect  a  junction  with  General  Greene's 
main  army,  supposed  to  be  now  hastening  up  from 
Cheraw.  But  we  will  probably  get  a  clearer  idea  of 
this  affair  by  following  each  party  in  succession,  one 
at  a  time. 

On  the  same  day  that  Cornwallis  began  his  pursuit 
— January  25,  1781 — General  Greene  was  apprised  of 
IMorgan's  victory  at  Cowpens,  and  ordered  General 
Stevens,  with  his  body  of  Virginia  militia,  whose  term 
of  service  was  almost  expiring,  to  hasten  to  Charlotte, 
relieve  Morgan  of  his  prisoners,  and  convey  them  to 
Charlottesville,  Va.,  while  he  himself  left  the  camp  on 
Pee  Dee  under  Generals  Huger  and  Williams,  and 
hastened,   with  one   aide  and  two   or  three  mounted 


198  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

militia,  to  meet  ^Morgan  on  the  Catawba.  On  the  route 
he  was  informed  of  the  pursuit  of  Cornwallis,  and  im- 
mediately sent  orders  to  General  Huger  to  break  up 
the  camp  on  the  Pee  Dee  and  meet  ^lorgan  in  Salis- 
bury or  Charlotte.  General  Greene  reached  Sherrill's 
Ford  on  the  Catawba,  ten  or  fifteen  miles  above  Beat- 
tie's  Ford,  on  the  thirty-first  of  January,  meeting  Gen- 
eral Morgan  there,  and  taking  charge  of  the  future 
movements  of  his  detachment.  General  Greene  im- 
mediately placed  the  prisoners  in  the  hands  of  Mor- 
gan's militia,  to  be  carried  to  Virginia  by  a  more 
northern  route,  while  Morgan,  with  his  five  hundred 
regulars,  was  left  unencumbered,  and  ordered  to 
guard  the  Fords  of  the  Catawba.  On  the  same  day 
General  Greene  issued  a  stirring  appeal  to  Colonel 
Locke  of  Rowan,  urging  him  to  embody  the  militia 
and  hasten  to  his  assistance.  But  so  many  of  the  sol- 
diers of  Rowan  were  prisoners  of  war  at  this  time, 
and  the  Fords  of  the  Catawba  were  so  numerous,  and 
the  enemy  so  near,  that  very  little  could  be  done  to 
stay  their  progress.  Gen.  \\'illiam  Davidson  suc- 
ceeded in  collecting  three  hundred  militia,  and  was 
posted  at  Cowan's  Ford,  a  few  miles  below  Beattie's 
Ford,  while  Morgan  with  his  regulars  was  higher  up 
the  river.  In  order  to  create  the  impression  that  the 
British  would  cross  at  Beattie's  Ford,  Cornwallis  sent 
Colonel  A\'ebster  with  his  brigade  to  that  point,  while 
he  with  the  main  body  of  his  army  decamped  at  mid- 
night, and  hastened  to  Cowan's  Ford,  which  he 
reached  a  little  before  dawn,  February  i,  1781. 
Plunging  into  the  stream,  nearly  five  hundred  yards 


GREENE   AND   CORNWALLIS   IN   ROWAN  1 99 

wide,  and  waist  deep,  the  British  soon  reached  the 
Mecklenburg  shore,  where  they  were  received  by  Gen- 
eral Davidson  and  his  three  hundred  militia  with  a 
galling  fire.  The  guide  having  deserted  the  British 
at  the  first  shot  of  the  sentinel,  they  missed  the  ford, 
and  came  out  a  considerable  distance  above  the  place 
where  General  Davidson  was  stationed.  Davidson  at 
once  led  his  men  to  that  part  of  the  bank  which  faced 
the  British.  But  by  the  time  of  his  arrival,  the  Hght 
infantry  had  reached  the  shore,  and  quickly  forming, 
they  soon  dispersed  the  handful  of  patriots.  General 
Davidson  was  the  last  to  leave  the  ground,  and  as  he 
was  mounting  his  horse  to  make  his  escape,  he  re- 
ceived a  mortal  wound.  Dr.  Caruthers  states  that 
General  Davidson  was  killed  by  a  shot  fired  by  Fred- 
erick Hager,  a  German  Tory,  who  piloted  the  British 
across  the  river;  but  this  statement  does  not  agree 
with  the  generally  accredited  story,  that  the  pilot  de- 
serted at  the  sentinel's  first  fire.  He  was  killed  in  Dr. 
Samuel  E.  McCorkle's  great  coat,  which  he  had  bor- 
rowed the  day  before.  The  Rev.  Thomas  H.  Mc- 
Caule,  another  Presbyterian  minister,  with  Col.  Wil- 
liam Polk  accompanied  General  Davidson  to  the  river 
that  morning.  And  when  Cornwallis,  after  tarrying 
about  three  hours  for  the  purpose  of  burying  his  dead, 
had  proceeded  in  the  direction  of  Salisbury,  David 
Wilson  and  Richard  Barry,  both  of  whom  were  at  the 
skirmish  that  morning,  returned,  and  secured  the  body 
of  General  Davidson,  and  buried  it  in  Hopewell 
churchyard  that  same  night  by  torchlight.  The  Con- 
gress on  the   following   September  ordered  a  monu- 


200  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN   COUNTY 

ment,  costing  not  more  than  five  hundred  dollars,  to  be 
erected  to  his  memory,  but  the  resolution  was  never 
carried  out.  But  it  is  a  pleasing  fact  that  a  half-cen- 
tury later  there  was  established  near  that  place  an  in- 
stitution of  learning  that  was  named  Davidson  College, 
after  the  brave  and  patriotic  General.  His  son,  Wil- 
liam Lee  Davidson,  Esq.,  was  an  early  friend  and  pa- 
tron of  the  College,  gave  the  lands  upon  which  it  is  sit- 
uated to  the  trustees,  and  when  leaving  this  State 
placed  his  father's  trusty  sword  in  the  College.  There 
it  hangs  today  in  the  College  Museum. 

From  Cowan's  Ford,  the  British  pressed  on  and 
soon  met  Colonel  \\'ebster's  division,  which  had 
crossed  at  Beattie's  Ford,  at  Torrence's  Tavern ;  which 
Lord  Cornwallis  in  his  general  orders  styles  "Cross- 
roads to  Salisbury/'  and  Tarleton  in  his  map  desig- 
nates as  "Tarrant's."  This  place  is  about  two  miles 
above  Davidson  College,  and  within  a  quarter-mile 
from  where  "Center  Depot,  on  the  Atlantic,  Ten- 
nessee, and  Ohio  Railroad,  now  stands.  They  burned 
the  house  of  Mr.  Torrence,  of  John  Brevard,  General 
Davidson's  father-in-law,  and  set  fire  to  Moses  Win- 
slow's  house ;  but  the  fire  was  extinguished  by  order 
of  Lord  Cornwallis.  At  Torrence's  Tavern,  Colonel 
Tarleton  with  his  light  horse  found  about  three  hun- 
dred American  militia,  with  a  motley  company  of  ref- 
ugees in  their  wagons,  from  South  Carolina  and  else- 
where, fleeing  for  safety.  Tarleton  made  an  onslaught 
upon  these,  killed  a  few  of  the  militia,  less  than  ten, 
and  scattered  the  refugees.  He  sustained  a  loss  of 
seven  men   and  twenty   horses   in   this   action.     This 


GREENE   AND  CORNWALUS  IN   ROWAN  20I 

was  about  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  From  Corn- 
wallis*  order  book  we  learn  that  the  British  army  en- 
camped at  Torrence's  that  night,  and  began  its  march 
in  pursuit  of  Greene  at  half-past  five  o'clock  on  the 
morning  of  the  second  of  February.  From  Tarleton's 
map  we  learn  that  the  route  of  the  army  was  almost 
directly  eastward  for  some  fifteen  or  twenty  miles,  to 
a  point  which  is  called  "Grimes,"  southeast  of  Salis- 
bury. This  was  probably  Graham's  plantation,  on  the 
west  side  of  Grant's  Creek,  near  "Wiseman's  Mill." 
This  was  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  General 
Rutherford's  residence,  among  the  Lockes,  Grahams, 
Brandons,  Nesbits,  and  Allisons.  Lord  Cornwallis 
designates  his  headquarters  for  that  day  "Canthard's 
Plantation."  As  the  Registry  of  Deeds  shows  no  such 
name  as  "Canthard,"  this  is  probably  a  mistake  for 
some  other  name.  And  since  the  "Order  Book,"  as 
well  as  Tarleton's  map,  is  full  of  errors  in  the  spelling 
of  names,  arising  from  the  fact  that  their  information 
as  to  localities  was  frequently  derived  from  ignorant 
persons,  the  better  class  keeping  out  of  the  way — it  is 
easy  to  see  how  a  stranger  in  hot  pursuit  of  an  enemy 
would  confound  familiar  names.  Or  perhaps  the 
printer  might  easily  misread  a  manuscript  written  in 
haste  by  a  busy  secretary.  It  is  probable  therefore 
that  instead  of  "Canthards"  we  should  read  "Ruther- 
ford's Plantation."  From  "Wiseman's  Mill,"  there 
may  be  seen  at  many  places  the  deep-cut  bed  of  an 
old  road,  crossing  the  County  westward,  and  passing  a 
little  southward  of  Villa  Franca,  the  residence  of  the 
late  Dr.  F.  N.  Lucky.    This  road  probably  led  on  past 


202  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN    COUXTY 

"Atwell's"  old  place,  past  General  Kerr's,  now  Mr. 
Hedrick's  residence,  and  so  on  past  Spring  Grove, 
Cross  Keys,  and  on  to  Torrence's.  This  was  once 
called  the  "Old  Wilmington  Road."  Having  left  Tor- 
rence's at  half-past  five  that  morning,  February  2, 
a  march  of  fifteen  or  eighteen  miles  would  bring  them 
to  "Rutherford's  Plantation."  Anyone  acquainted 
with  these  roads  in  midwinter,  after  a  hard  day's  rain,, 
will  consider  this  a  good  half-day's  march. 

General  ]\Iorgan  was  ahead  of  them,  and  the  Yad- 
kin was  about  fifteen  miles  from  this  post.  There  was 
therefore  but  a  short  rest,  and  they  were  on  the  march 
again.  In  a  few  miles  they  fell  into  the  old  "Trading 
Path,"  five  or  six  miles  south  of  Salisbury.  And  as 
darkness  gathered  around  them,  we  conceive  that  they 
would  be  passing  along  that  old  "Pathway,"  then  the 
Great  South  Road,  somewhere  about  the  western 
slopes  of  Dunn's  ^Mountain,  in  haste  to  reach  Trading 
Ford  before  ^Morgan  should  cross.  Lord  Cornwallis 
appears  to  have  halted  at  a  place  which  he  styles 
"Camp  Cassington,"  a  fanciful  name  perhaps.  This 
place  may  have  been  at  a  point  about  four  miles  east  of 
Salisbury,  between  the  residence  of  Dr.  I.  \\'.  Jones 
and  the  railroad.  We  are  led  to  this  conjecture  from 
the  fact  that  there  are  quite  a  number  of  graves  in  the 
forest  at  that  point,  and  none  can  account  for  their 
being  there  except  on  some  such  hypothesis.  But  while 
Cornwallis  halted,  he  sent  forward  General  O'Hara, 
Colonel  Tarleton,  and  the  Hessian  Regiment  of 
Bose,  to  the  Trading  Ford,  hoping  to  find  ^lorgan  on 
the   western   bank.     But   the   hope   was    a   vain   one. 


GREENE   AND   CORNWALLIS   IN    ROWAN  203 

Morgan  had  crossed  early  in  the  evening,  securing  all 
the  boats  and  flats  on  the  eastern  side.  When  there- 
fore O'Hara  and  Tarleton  reached  the  Ford  at  mid- 
night, they  found  only  a  small  detachment  of  Ameri- 
can riflemen,  left  there  to  guard  some  wagons  and 
stores  belonging  to  the  frightened  country  people,  who 
were  fleeing  from  the  British  army.  A  slight  skir- 
mish ensued,  but  the  Americans  escaped  in  the  dark- 
ness. It  was  those  who  were  killed  at  this  skirmish,  as 
well  as  some  wounded  ones  that  were  brought  from 
Cowan's  Ford  and  Torrence's,  that  we  suppose  to 
have  been  buried  at  "Camp  Cassington." 

During  the  night,  the  river,  already  swollen  by  re- 
cent rains,  and  always  pretty  deep  in  winter,  arose  to 
an  impassable  height,  and  cut  off  all  hope  of  pursuing 
the  American  troops  on  that  route.  It  was  now  the 
third  of  February,  and  the  British  troops,  after  can- 
nonading across  the  river  from  the  "Heights  of 
Gowerie,"  at  the  rear  of  the  Americans,  turned  to  re- 
trace their  steps,  and  either  wait  till  the  river  fell  or 
seek  another  route. 

The  following  extract  from  the  minutes  of  the 
Inferior  Court  of  Rowan  fixes  these  dates  beyond 
dispute : 

"Be  it  remembered  that  the  British  army  marched 
into  Salisbury  on  Saturday,  preceding  the  February 
term,  1781,  and  continued  in  town  until  Monday  night 
or  Tuesday  morning  following;  therefore  the  Court 
was  not  called  according  to  last  adjournment. 


204  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

The  minutes  of  this  term  were  transcribed  from  ^Ir. 
Gifford's  rough  minutes." 

(Signed)  "Adlai  Osborne,  C.  C.  C." 

A  calculation,  carefully  made  from  the  Court  rec- 
ords, shows  that  the  ''Saturday  preceding  the  February 
term  of  1781  fell  on  the  third  day  of  February,  and 
coincides  with  the  foregoing  account  of  the  march,  as 
well  as  the  'Order  Book'  of  Lord  Cornwalhs.  There 
has  been  some  confusion  of  dates  upon  this  point  by 
various  writers — Dr.  Hunter,  in  his  Sketches,  bring- 
ing the  British  to  Salisbury  on  the  night  of  the  first  of 
February,  and  Lossing  on  the  night  of  the  second.  The 
truth  appears  to  be  that  the  main  army  of  the  British 
passed  near  Salisbury  on  the  evening  of  the  second, 
and  returned  and  occupied  the  town  on  Saturday,  the 
third.  It  is  however  probable  that  a  squadron  of 
dragoons  passed  through  the  town  on  the  second, 
where  Tarleton  says  'some  emissaries  informed  him 
that  Morgan  was  at  the  Trading  Ford,  but  had  not 
crossed  the  river.' " 


CHAPTER  XVII 


GENERAL    GREENE    IN    SALISBURY 

Having  followed  the  track  of  the  British  army  from 
the  Catawba  River  to  Salisbury,  thus  giving  a  con- 
tinuous narrative  of  their  march,  let  us  now  return 
and  trace  the  course  of  Generals  Greene  and  Morgan 
over  nearly  the  same  ground.  Unfortunately  we  have 
not  in  this  case  the  benefit  of  journals,  maps,  and 
''order  book,"  as  before,  but  still  we  shall  be  able  to 
ascertain  some  facts  concerning  this  day's  march. 

General  Morgan  crossed  the  Catawba  River  at  the 
Island  Ford,  on  the  northern  border  of  Lincoln 
County,  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  January,  1781,  only 
two  hours  ahead  of  the  British  vanguard,  under 
Brigadier-General  O'Hara.  It  was  just  at  the  hour  of 
sunset  when  the  British  came  to  the  banks  of  the 
broad  stream,  sweeping  onward  with  its  wintry  cur- 
rent from  the  foot  of  the  Blue  Ridge.  In  the  darkness 
there  was  danger  in  crossing  the  stream,  especially 
with  the  courageous  IMorgan  and  his  army  on  the 
other  side  to  receive  them.  But  with  a  trained  army 
of  two  thousand,  unencumbered  with  baggage  or 
prisoners,  the  British  commander  could  confidently 
calculate  upon  overtaking  the  Americans,  numbering 
only  about  one  thousand  in  all,  half  of  whom  were 
militia,  and  embarrassed  with  the  five  hundred  prison- 


206  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

ers  lately  captured  at  Cowpens.  The  passage  of  the 
Catawba  was  therefore  postponed  until  the  next  morn- 
ing. That  delay  was  the  salvation  of  ^lorgan  and  his 
little  army.  During  the  night  the  rain  fell  in  torrents, 
and  by  morning  light  the  river  was  brimful  and  un- 
fordable,  in  which  condition  it  remained  for  forty- 
eight  hours.  For  two  days  the  British  were  compelled 
to  linger  on  the  western  banks,  while  ^Morgan  and 
Greene  were  on  the  other  side  planning  the  details  of 
the  retreat.  Sending  the  five  hundred  prisoners  off, 
under  the  care  of  the  five  hundred  militia,  by  a  route 
higher  up  the  country  towards  Mrginia,  General  ]\Ior- 
gan  with  his  regulars  seems  to  have  remained  on  the 
east  bank  of  the  Catawba,  watching  the  British,  and 
prepared  to  dispute  their  passage.  But  when  it  was 
ascertained  that  they  had  crossed  below  him,  at  Cow- 
an's Ford,  on  the  first  of  February,  General  ^lorgan 
began  his  retreat  towards  the  Yadkin.  xA.s  he  was 
higher  up  the  river,  we  conjecture  that  his  route  was 
along  one  of  the  upper  roads,  either  the  Beattie's  Ford 
or  Sherrill's  Ford  Road  to  Salisbury.  His  forces  ap- 
pear to  have  reached  Salisbury  late  the  same  after- 
noon, and  were  not  concerned  in  the  skirmish  at 
Cowan's  Ford,  or  at  Torrence's  Tavern.  There  is  a 
tradition  in  Salisbury  that,  as  ^Morgan's  troops  filed 
past  George  Murr's  house,  at  the  east  corner  of  Main 
and  Franklin  Streets,  where  Charles  Gordon  now 
lives,  some  of  the  men  mischievously  punched  out 
some  panes  of  glass  with  their  bayonets.  This  must 
have  been  late  in  the  afternoon,  for  Morgan's  troops 
encamped  that  night  about  a  half-mile  east  of  Salis- 


GENERAL    GREENE    IX    SALISBURY  20/ 

bury,  on  the  Yadkin  Road.  Xo  doubt  the  prospect  of 
a  good  night's  rest,  and  a  bountiful  repast,  developed 
in  the  bosoms  of  those  veterans  the  exuberance  of 
spirit  that  suggested  the  mischief.  The  encampment 
must  have  been  in  the  grove  where  the  residence  of 
John  S.  Henderson,  Esq.,  now  is.  There  they  would 
have  the  advantage  of  two  or  three  excellent  springs 
of  water,  abundance  of  fuel,  while  at  the  same  time 
they  would  be  near  enough  to  the  town  for  convenience 
of  supplies,  and  directly  on  the  line  of  march  for  an 
early  start  in  the  morning. 

It  appears  that  Dr.  Read,  the  surgeon  of  Morgan's 
army,  with  the  hospital  stores,  and  some  wounded  and 
disabled  British  officers,  who  were  prisoners,  had 
reached  Salisbury  some  time  in  advance  of  the  troops. 
He  was  stopping  at  the  tavern  of  Mrs.  Elizabeth 
Steele.  This  tavern  was  on  the  northwest  side  of 
Main  Street,  between  the  old  courthouse  and  the  cor- 
ner where  the  present  courthouse  now  stands,  proba- 
bly at  the  corner  of  Main  and  Liberty  Streets,  ad- 
jacent to  the  present  courthouse  corner.  Dr.  Read 
was  sitting  in  the  apartment  overlooking  :\Iain  Street, 
engaged  in  writing  paroles  for  such  British  officers  as 
were  unable  from  sickness  or  debility  to  proceed  fur- 
ther, w^hen  he  saw  riding  up  to  the  door  General 
Greene,  unaccompanied  by  his  aides  or  by  any  person 
whatsoever,  and  looking  quite  forlorn. 

''How  do  you  find  yourself,  my  good  General?'* 
eagerly  inquired  Dr.  Read. 

"Wretched  beyond  measure — without  a  friend — 
without  money — and  destitute  even  of  a  companion," 


208  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN    COUXTY 

replied  Greene,  as  he  slowly  dismounted  from  his 
jaded  horse.  The  General  had  dispatched  his  aides  to 
different  parts  of  his  retreating  army  and  had  ridden 
through  the  rain  and  mud  of  Rowan  winter  roads,  over 
thirty  miles  in  a  direct  line,  not  allowing  for  excursions 
to  the  right  and  left,  during  this  exciting  day.  Be- 
sides this,  he  had  for  themes  of  sad  meditation  the  two 
disastrous  skirmishes  of  the  day,  and  apprehensions  of 
the  near  approach  of  Colonel  Tarleton  and  his  light 
dragoons.  This  condition  was  truly  a  discouraging 
one.  But  help  was  nearer  than  he  imagined.  ^Irs. 
Steele,  the  patriotic  and  kind  -  hearted  hostess,  had 
overheard  his  desponding  remarks  upon  alighting,  and 
determined  that  he  should  obtain  such  relief  as  she 
was  able  to  afford. 

In  due  time  a  bountiful  repast  was  spread  before 
her  distinguished  guest,  while  a  cheerful  fire  crackled 
on  the  hearth  and  shed  its  genial  warmth  throughout 
the  room.  A"\'hile  General  Greene  was  sitting  at  the 
table,  and  the  discouragement  engendered  by  hunger, 
fatigue,  and  cold  was  disappearing  before  the  comfort- 
ing influences  of  his  environment,  ^Irs.  Steele  ap- 
proached him,  and  reminding  him  of  the  desponding 
words  he  had  uttered  upon  his  arrival,  assured  him  of 
her  sympathy  and  friendship.  Then  drawing  two 
small  bags  of  specie  from  under  her  apron  she  pre- 
sented them  to  him,  saying  gracefully:  "Take  these, 
for  you  will  want  them,  and  I  can  do  without  them." 
Mrs.  Steele  was  not  poor,  as  the  remarks  of  some 
writers  upon  this  subject  would  lead  us  to  infer,  and 
perhaps  could  have  filled  his  pockets  with  "proclama- 


JIBBWPKPWWWPWWIWWP I  I  III  tt    nui  «m 


GENERAL    GREENE    IN    SALISBURY  209 

tion  money,"  worth  less  than  Confederate  notes  were 
in  the  beginning  of  1865.  But  silver  and  gold  were 
scarce  in  those  days,  and  no  American  officer  or  gentle- 
man would  have  complained  of  the  burden  of  carrying 
it  along  with  him.  The  General  accepted  this  timely 
gift  with  gratitude,  and  doubtless  it  was  all  the  more 
welcome  because  accompanied  by  graceful  words  of 
kindness  and  encouragement.  The  hero's  heart  was 
lightened  by  this  opportune  kindness,  and  after  a  few 
hours  of  rest  he  went  forth  to  superintend  and  direct 
the  retreat  of  his  little  army,  and  provide  for  their 
transportation  across  the  Yadkin. 

Just  before  the  departure  from  Salisbury,  General 
Greene  left  a  memorial  of  his  visit  of  a  peculiar  kind. 
His  eye  caught  sight  of  a  portrait  of  George  III.  hang- 
ing on  the  walls  of  the  room.  This  portrait  had  been 
presented  to  a  connection  of  Mrs.  Steele  by  a  friend 
in  the  Court  of  England,  some  years  before.  The 
sight  of  this  picture  recalled  to  the  mind  of  the  General 
the  sufferings  which  at  that  moment  his  countrymen 
were  enduring,  and  the  blood  that  had  been  shed  in  the 
struggle  to  throw  off  the  shackles  of  slavery  which  the 
English  king  and  Parliament  were  trying  to  fasten 
upon  the  American  people.  In  a  moment  he  took 
down  the  picture,  and  with  a  piece  of  chalk  wrote  on 
the  back  of  it;  "O  George!  hide  thy  face  and  moume." 
He  then  replaced  it,  with  the  face  to  the  wall,  and 
mounting  his  horse  rode  away.  The  picture,  with  the 
writing  still  visible,  is  the  property  of  the  family  of 
the  late  Archibald  Henderson,  Esq.,  of  Salisbury,  a 
descendant  of  Mrs.  Steele;  but  it  has  not  been  in  pos- 


2IO  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN    COUNTY 

session  of  the  family  for  many  years.  When  Dr. 
Foote  wrote  his  Sketches  of  North  CaroHna,  in  1846, 
it  was  in  the  postoffice  at  Charlotte.  When  Colonel 
Wheeler  published  his  History  of  North  Carohna,  in 
185 1,  it  was  in  the  possession  of  Governor  Swain,  the 
president  of  the  University,  at  Chapel  Hill.  It  is 
thought  to  be  now  in  the  hands  of  the  widow  of  Gov- 
ernor Swain,  in  Raleigh. 

Mrs.  Steele's  first  husband  was  Robert  Gillespie, 
who  in  partnership  with  Thomas  Bashford  purchased 
a  large  number  of  lots  in  Salisbury,  about  1757,  and 
among  them  the  lot  on  which  they  carried  on  a  village 
inn,  the  same  that  was  afterwards  owned  and  occupied 
by  Mrs.  Steele.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gillespie  had  two  chil- 
dren. One  of  these  was  a  daughter,  named  Margaret, 
who  became  the  wife  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Eusebius 
McCorkle,  D.  D.,  so  long  the  pastor  of  Thyatira 
Church,  and  principal  of  the  ''Zion  Parnassus 
Academy,"  where  he  educated  so  many  men  during  the 
closing  years  of  the  last  century.  The  other  child  was 
a  son,  named  Richard  Gillespie,  who  was  a  captain  in 
the  Revolutionary  War,  and  died  unmarried.  He  was 
of  a  peculiarly  bold  and  defiant  spirit,  and  when  the 
British  entered  Salisbury  he  rode  in  sight  of  them, 
waving  his  sword  towards  them  in  a  menacing  manner. 
As  he  had  but  one  companion,  "Blind  Daniel,"  so  called 
from  having  lost  one  eye,  a  kind  of  hanger  -  on  in 
Salisbury,  of  course  he  did  not  remain  to  carry  out 
his  menaces.  After  the  death  of  Mr.  Gillespie,  his 
widow  married  Mr.  William  Steele  of  Salisbury,  by 
whom  she  had  an  only  son,  the  distinguished  General 


GENERAL    GREENE    IN    SALISBURY  211 

John  Steele,  who  was  an  ornament  to  his  native  town, 
and  to  his  whole  country.  His  services  were  rendered 
at  a  later  day. 

During  the  day  of  the  second  of  February,  Generals 
Greene  and  Morgan  proceeded  to  the  river,  at  Trading 
Ford,  and  succeeded  in  crossing  that  stream,  and 
securing  all  the  flats  and  boats  that  had  been  used  in 
carrying  over  the  baggage  and  infantry  on  the  other 
side.  About  midnight,  as  before  related,  General 
O'Hara,  with  the  vanguard  of  the  British  army, 
reached  the  river,  and  had  a  slight  skirmish  with  the 
detachment  left  behind  to  guard  some  refugees  with 
their  wagons  and  household  stuff.  But  Morgan's 
cavalry  had  forded  the  stream  long  before,  and  his 
infantry  had  passed  over  in  a  batteau.  Another 
copious  rain  in  the  mountains  had  swollen  the  Yadkin 
to  a  mighty  river,  and  the  British  commander,  like  a 
lion  robbed  of  its  prey,  stood  chafing  on  the  western 
bank  of  the  stream.  From  the  Heights  of  Gowerie — 
generally  known  as  the  "Torrence  Place" — the  British, 
with  their  field  glasses,  could  sweep  their  vision  far 
over  the  famed  ''J^i'sey  Settlement,"  with  its  rich 
lands  and  substantial  farmhouses.  The  Torrences, 
the  ]\Iacnamaras,  the  Smiths,  the  Pottses,  and  other 
prominent  families  dwelt  in  that  region.  General 
Greene  himself  seemed  in  no  hurry  to  leave  that  re- 
gion. From  this  height  the  British  opened  a  furious 
cannonade  across  the  river.  Dr.  Read,  the  x\merican 
surgeon,  before  mentioned,  has  left  this  record  of  the 
scene,  as  given  in  Colonel  Wheeler's  History.  ''At  a 
little   distance   from  the   river   was   a   small  cabin  in 


212  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

which  General  Greene  had  taken  up  his  quarters.  At 
this  the  enemy  directed  their  fire,  and  the  balls  re- 
bounded from  the  rocks  in  the  rear  of  it.  But  little  of 
the  roof  was  visible  to  the  enemy.  The  General  was 
preparing  his  orders  for  the  army  and  his  dispatches 
to  the  Congress.  In  a  short  time  the  balls  began  to 
strike  the  roof,  and  the  clapboards  were  flying  in  all 
directions.  But  the  General's  pen  never  stopped,  only 
when  a  new  visitor  arrived,  or  some  officer  for  orders ; 
and  then  the  answer  was  given  with  calmness  and 
precision,  and  Greene  resumed  his  pen."  This  cabin 
stood  about  two  hundred  yards  east  of  Holtsburg 
depot,  and  a  rod  or  two  to  the  north  of  the  county 
road,  at  the  foot  of  the  hill. 

The  reader  will  recollect  that  it  was  a  part  of 
Greene's  original  plan  that  the  larger  part  of  his  army, 
which  he  had  stationed  at  Cheraw,  should  hasten  to 
join  Morgan's  division  at  Charlotte  or  Salisbury.  But 
the  rapidity  of  their  movements  effectually  prevented 
the  accomplishment  of  this  purpose.  Instead  of  meet- 
ing Morgan's  division.  General  Huger  marched  up  on 
the  eastern  side  of  the  Pee  Dee,  past  the  Grassy  Is- 
lands, through  Richmond,  ^Montgomery,  and  Randolph 
Counties,  to  meet  General  Greene  at  ^lartinville,  or 
Guilford  Courthouse,  where  he  arrived  on  the  evening 
of  the  seventh  of  February. 

From  Trading  Ford,  General  Greene  moved  on  to 
Abbott's  Creek  meeting  -  house,  still  in  Old  Rowan, 
and  halted  for  two  or  three  days  to  rest  his  troops  and 
await  further  developments.  During  his  stay  there  he 
made    his    headquarters    at    the    house    of    Colonel 


GENERAL    GREENE    IN    SALISBURY  213 

Spurgen,  a  Tory,  who  of  course  was  not  at  home  to 
receive  him.  But  his  wife,  Mary  Spurgen,  was  as 
true  a  Whig  as  her  husband  was  a  Tory,  and  Hke  Mrs. 
Steele  in  SaHsbury  she  show^ed  him  all  the  kindness  in 
her  power.  While  staying  there  he  was  naturally 
anxious  to  know  whether  the  British  were  still  in  Salis- 
bury, or  w^hether  they  were  moving  up  the  river.  In 
this  state  of  perplexity,  he  inquired  of  Mrs.  Spurgen 
whether  she  knew  anyone  whom  he  could  trust  to  send 
back  to  the  river  for  information.  Mrs.  Spurgen 
promptly  recommended  her  son  John,  a  mere  youth, 
as  perfectly  trustworthy.  After  convincing  himself 
that  this  was  the  best  he  could  do,  he  mounted  John 
on  his  own  horse,  directing  him  to  go  to  Trading  Ford, 
and  if  he  could  not  hear  of  the  British  to  go  up  the 
river  until  he  could  gain  information.  John  went, 
and  hearing  nothing  at  the  Ford  went  several  miles  up 
the  river.  Still  hearing  nothing  he  returned  home  and 
reported.  Greene  started  him  off  again,  and  told  him, 
that  he  must  go  as  far  up  as  Shallow  Ford,  if  he  could 
hear  nothing  before  that  time.  John  took  the  road 
again,  and  actually  w^ent  as  far  as  Shallow  Ford,  some 
thirty  miles  from  home,  where  he  saw  the  British 
crossing  the  river.  Hastening  home  with  all  speed  he 
reported  his  discovery  to  the  General.  Instantly  Greene 
ordered  his  horse  and  was  off  for  ]\Iartinville,  where 
he  met  General  Huger  and  the  eastern  division  of  his 
army,  as  mentioned  above,  on  the  evening  of  the 
seventh  of  February. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 


REVOLUTIONARY    INCIDENTS 

General  Greene  having  escaped  across  the  Yadkin, 
Lord  Cornwallis  with  the  main  body  of  his  troops  re- 
turned to  SaHsbury  and  remained  at  that  place  two 
days.  They  reached  the  town  on  Saturday  and  con- 
tinued there  until  Monday  night  or  Tuesday  morning. 
Monday  was  the  time  for  opening  the  sessions  of  the 
Quarterly  Inferior  Court,  but  as  may  well  be  supposed, 
the  magistrates  who  presided,  being  ardent  Whigs,  had 
no  disposition  to  place  themselves  in  the  hands  of  the 
British.  Adlai  Osborne,  the  clerk,  was  absent  in  the 
Patriot  army,  and  had  been  for  some  time,  Mr.  Gif- 
ford  acting  as  deputy  clerk,  and  taking  notes  of  pro- 
ceedings which  were  afterwards  written  up  by  Mr. 
Osborne. 

There  still  remain  among  our  people  several  tradi- 
tions of  the  period  of  British  occupation,  which  though 
trivial  in  themselves,  are  yet  of  interest  to  the  citizens 
of  Salisbury  and  vicinity.  Let  it  then  be  understood 
that  the  greater  part  of  this  chapter  is  founded  upon 
local  tradition;  but  so  direct  and  constant  is  that 
tradition,  that  it  is  thought  to  be  entirely  trustworthy 
in  its  main  features. 

Upon  entering  the  town  Lord  Cornwallis  took  up  his 
headquarters  at  the  house  of  Maxwell  Chambers,   a 


2l6  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

prominent  and  wealthy  Whig,  a  merchant  of  Salisbury, 
a  former  member  of  the  Rowan  Committee  of  Safety, 
and  its  treasurer.  After  the  war,  Maxwell  Chambers 
moved  to  Spring  Hill,  about  three  miles  east  of  Salis- 
bury. His  eldest  son  was  named  Edward  Chambers, 
who  was  the  next  owner  of  "Spring  Hill."  The  late 
William  Chambers,  whose  monument  stands  near  the 
wall  in  the  Lutheran  graveyard,  was  the  son  and  heir 
of  Edward  Chambers.  During  the  Revolution,  Max- 
well Chambers  lived  on  the  west  corner  of  Church 
and  Bank  Streets — the  corner  now  occupied  by  the 
stately  and  substantial  mansion  of  S.  H.  Wiley,  Esq. 
The  house  of  ]\Ir.  Chambers  used  by  the  British  Com- 
mander remained  standing  until  about  ten  years  ago, 
and  its  old-fashioned  and  quaint  appearance  is  familiar 
to  everyone  whose  recollection  can  run  back  ten  or 
twelve  years.  It  is  surprising  that  none  was  found 
to  show  Mr.  Lossing,  in  1749,  this  relic  of  the  Revolu- 
tion. During  these  two  days  of  occupation  the  British 
buried  some  soldiers  on  the  spot  known  as  the  "English 
Graveyard,"  and  from  this  circumstance  it  is  said  to 
have  derived  its  name.  But  it  was  a  burying-place 
before  that  time.  Near  the  center  of  it,  leaning  against 
a  tree,  there  is  an  ancient  headstone  of  some  dark  ma- 
terial, that  says  that  Capt.  Daniel  Little,  who  died  in 
1775,  lies  buried  there.  It  is  more  probable  that  it  was 
called  the  "English"  in  distinction  from  the  "Luth- 
eran" or  "German"  graveyard,  on  the  eastern  side  of 
town.  Colonel  Tarleton  stopped  at  John  Louis  Beard's, 
in  the  eastern  part  of  town,  the  north  corner  of  Main 
and  Franklin  Streets.     Mr.  Beard,  being  a  well-known 


REVOLUTIONARY    IXCIDENTS  217 

Whig,  was  absent  in  the  army  at  the  time,  and  so  the 
entertaining  devolved  upon  Airs.  Beard.  But  Colonel 
Tarleton,  it  seems,  was  perfectly  able  to  take  care  of 
himself,  and  made  himself  quite  at  home.  When  he 
wanted  milk  he  ordered  old  Dick — the  negro  servant — 
to  fetch  the  cows  and  milk  them.  Mrs.  Beard  had  a 
cross  child  at  the  time,  whose  crying  was  a  great  an- 
noyance to  the  dashing  colonel.  Upon  one  occasion 
his  anger  overleaped  the  bounds  of  gentlemanly 
courtesy,  and  he  ordered  the  child  to  be  choked  to  stop 
its  crying.  Airs.  Beard  was  very  much  afraid  of  him, 
and  we  may  well  suppose  that  she  did  all  she  could 
to  please  him. 

It  is  said  that  Lord  Rawdon  put  up  at  the  residence 
of  Thomas  Frohock,  at  his  place  called  "The  Castle," 
about  two  miles  northwest  of  SaHsbury,  on  the  hill 
just  east  of  Frohock's  (afterwards  Macay's)  pond; 
and  that  he  had  charge  of  Frohock's  mill  upon  that 
occasion.  The  writer  has  looked  in  vain,  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  campaign,  for  the  name  of  Lord  Rawdon. 
He  was  present  in  Charlotte  the  previous  summer,  and 
fell  back  with  Cornwallis  to  \\'innsboro  in  the  fall. 
But  neither  the  histories,  nor  the  "General  Order 
Book,"  mention  his  name  in  this  pursuit  of  Greene. 
Still  the  grandmother  of  Miss  Christine  Beard,  one 
of  our  oldest  citizens,  whose  memory  is  stored  with 
these  ancient  traditions,  and  is  never  at  fault,  was 
often  heard  to  state  that  Rawdon  was  at  Frohock's. 
Mrs.  Eleanor  Faust,  the  lady  in  question,  was  the 
daughter  of  John  Dunn,  Esq.,  and  her  memory  was 
excellent.      The   same    statement   was   also    made   by 


2l8  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

Mrs.  Giles,  the  sister  of  Mrs.  Faust,  who  was  a  tem- 
porary inmate  of  Frohock's  family  at  the  time.  On 
the  other  hand,  we  learn  from  Lossing  and  other  his- 
torians that  Lord  Rawdon  was  left  in  command  of  the 
Southern  Division  of  the  Royal  army,  with  head- 
quarters at  Camden,  when  Comwallis  marched  into 
North  Carolina.  And  there  General  Greene  found 
him  when  he  marched  into  South  Carolina  after  the 
battle  of  Guilford  Courthouse,  and  engaged  in  the 
unfortunate  battle  of  Hobkirk's  Hill,  on  the  twenty- 
fifth  of  April,  1 781.  The  only  solution  of  the  apparent 
contradiction  between  tradition  and  history  is  that 
Lord  Rawdon  may  have  proceeded  with  Lord  Corn- 
wallis  as  far  as  Salisbury,  and  then  returned  to  his 
field  of  operations  in  the  South  after  Greene  had  been 
extricated  from  their  grasp  by  the  rise  of  the  Yadkin 
River. 

Another  distinguished  personage  was  along  with 
Lord  Cornwallis  in  Salisbury,  though  we  hear  little  of 
him.  This  was  no  less  a  personage  than  Josiah  Mar- 
tin, the  last  Royal  Governor  of  North  Carolina.  The 
day  after  the  British  crossed  at  Cowan's  Ford,  an 
elegant  beaver  hat,  made  after  the  fashion  of  the  day, 
and  marked  in  the  inside,  "The  property  of  Josiah 
Martin,  Governor,"  was  found  floating  on  the  Catawba 
River  about  ten  miles  below  Cowan's  Ford.  In  his 
dispatches  after  the  battle  of  Guilford  Courthouse, 
Cornwallis  reports  that  Governor  Martin  had  accom- 
panied him  in  his  campaign  through  North  Carolina, 
cheerfully  bearing  all  the  hardships  of  camp  life, 
hoping  by  his  presence  to  aid  in  the  work  of  restoring 


REVOLUTIONARY    INCIDENTS  219 

the   Royal   authority   in   the   State.     Though   he   was 
along  with  the  troops,  he  does  not  appear  conspicuous. 
"Inter  arma  leges  silent"  is  an  old  maxim,  and  the 
powerless  governor  was  completely  overshadowed  by 
the  plumed  and  epauletted  chiefs  of  the  march  and  of 
the  battlefield.  Had  he  not  lost  his  hat  in  the  Catawba, 
and  had  not  Cornwallis  kindly  mentioned  his  name  in 
his  dispatches,  we  would  have  been  entirely  ignorant 
of  his  last  visit  to  Salisbury.     We  do  not  know  where 
he  "put  up"  while  in  town.  At  the  northeast  corner  of 
Innes  and  Church  Streets,  now  the  property  of  Mr. 
Philip  P.  IMeroney,  stood  the  law  office  of  John  Dunn, 
Esq.,  and  in  the  same  yard,  a  little  back  of  it,  was  the 
residence  of  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Eleanor  Faust.  These 
premises   were  occupied   as  the  headquarters   of   the 
British  commissary  department.     The  encampment  of 
the  army  was  two  or  three  hundred  yards  to  the  north 
of  the  courthouse,  somewhere  in  the  neighborhood  of 
the  English  graveyard,  perhaps  on  the  line  of  Fulton 
Street,   not   far   from   the   present   residence   of   Dr. 
Whitehead  and  that  of  the  Hon.  F.  E.  Shober.     The 
commissary  headquarters  would  thus  be  between  the 
camp   and   center   of   town.     It   is   related  that   Mrs. 
Faust  owned  a  favorite  calf  that  grazed  in  the  yard, 
w^hich  the  commissary  took  a  fancy  to,  and  tried  to 
purchase  for  Lord  Cornwallis'  own  table.     But  Mrs. 
Faust  refused  to  sell  upon  any  terms.     The  commis- 
sary thereupon  proceeded  to  "impress"  the  calf,  and 
after  killing  it  he  laid  down  a  piece  of  gold  before 
Mrs.    Faust   as   pay.        Irritated    and   indignant,    she 
pushed  away  the  money,  and  left  his  presence. 


220  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

During  the  stay  of  the  British,  Mrs.  Faust  lost  a 
child,  that  died  of  smallpox.  As  all  things  were  in 
confusion,  and  none  could  be  hired  to  perform  such 
services,  her  father,  John  Dunn,  took  the  coffin  upon 
his  horse,  and  interred  the  body  at  the  family  burying- 
ground,  three  miles  south  of  Salisbury. 

Dr.  Anthony  Newnan,  familiarly  called  Dr. 
Anthony,  was  then  a  citizen  of  Salisbury.  He  lived 
in  the  house  that  still  stands  on  the  southeast  side  of 
Main  Street,  next  to  "Cowan's  brick  row."  The 
building  is  now  occupied  as  a  harness  and  boot  and 
shoe  shop,  and  is  very  old  and  dilapidated.  It  has 
undergone  many  changes,  but  is  still  substantially  the 
same.  Parts  of  the  old  heavy  molding  and  the 
wainscot  and  paneling  are  still  to  be  seen,  as  well  as 
the  hard  oaken  cornerposts  and  studding,  and  the 
weatherboarding  fastened  with  home  -  wrought  iron 
nails.  It  is  reported  that  the  builder  of  this  house 
got  drunk,  and  rolled  from  the  roof  of  the  piazza  into 
the  street  and  was  thereby  killed.  At  all  events  Dr. 
•Newnan,  a  good  Whig,  lived  in  this  house,  and  enter- 
tained some  of  the  British  officers.  One  day  while 
Colonel  Tarleton  and  some  other  British  officers  were 
enjoying  the  hospitality  of  Dr.  Xewnan,  the  Doctor's 
two  little  boys  were  engaged  in  playing  a  game  with 
white  and  red  grains  of  corn,  perhaps  after  the  style 
of  "Fox  and  Geese,"  or  ''Cross  the  Crown."  Having 
heard  much  talk  in  the  past  five  days  of  the  battle  of 
Cowpens,  the  British,  Colonel  Tarleton,  and  Colonel 
Washington,  it  occurred  to  the  boys  to  name  their 
white  and  red  grains  of  corn  Americans  and  British, 


REVOLUTIONARY    INCIDENTS  221 

with  Washington  and  Tarleton  as  leaders,  and  "play" 
the  battle  of  Cowpens.  All  at  once,  and  forgetful  of 
Tarleton's  presence,  one  of  the  boys  shouted  out 
''Hurrah  for  Washington!  Tarleton  is  running!  Hur- 
rah for  \\'ashington!"  The  fiery  Tarleton  looked  on 
awhile  in  silence,  but  his  temper  was  too  hot  to  restrain 
him  from  uttering  a  curse  against  the  rebel  boys. 

Dr.  Xewnan  married  a  daughter  of  Hugh  ^Mont- 
gomery,  a  wealthy  citizen,  who  owned  much  property 
in  lands  and  cattle  in  Wilkes  County.  ^Montgomery 
lived  in  the  old  ''Yarboro  House,"  then  standing  upon 
the  site  of  :\Ieroney's  Hall,  but  now  rolled  back  and 
standing  in  the  rear  of  it,  and  occupied  as  a  hotel  for 
colored  people.  Montgomery  was  the  ancestor  of  the 
Stokeses  and  \\^elborns  of  Wilkes  County.  Dr.  John 
Newnan  was  the  son  of  Dr.  Anthony  Xewnan,  and 
lived  on  the  lot  now  occupied  as  the  residence  of  Dr. 
Julius  A.  Caldwell.  The  burying-ground  of  the  Xew- 
nans  may  still  be  seen  on  the  lot  in  the  rear  of  ]\Ir. 
Alexander  Parker's  residence,  not  far  from  the  rail- 
road depot.  Quite  a  number  of  old  and  prominent 
citizens  of  SaHsbury  He  buried  just  behind  Meroney's 
Hall,  under  and  around  the  colored  hotel.  t 

Incidents  at  the  Stone  House 
About  three  miles  southeast  of  Salisbury,  and  near 
the  supposed  line  of  the  old  ''Trading  Path,"  stands 
a  remarkable  rehc  of  the  early  settlement  of  Rowan. 
It  is  known  far  and  wide  as  the  "Old  Stone  House." 
A  smooth  stone  tablet  over  the  front  door  tells  the 
visitor    that    Michael    Braun    (Brown),    erected    this 


222  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

house  in  1766.  It  is  built  of  native,  unhewn,  but 
rather  well-shaped  blocks  of  granite,  laid  in  cement  so 
durable  that  it  still  stands  in  ridges  between  the  stones. 
The  lower  story  was  pretty  well  finished  with  plaster, 
and  contained  five  rooms.  At  one  end  of  the  house 
there  is  a  double  chimney,  with  fireplaces  in  corners 
of  two  rooms.  At  the  other  end  there  is  a  huge  chim- 
ney facing  outwards,  and  around  which  is  built  a 
wooden  kitchen.  This  kitchen  chimney  is  eight  feet 
in  the  clear,  and  four  feet  deep.  Michael  Braun  not 
only  provided  a  solid  house  to  live  in,  but  he  had  en- 
larged ideas  of  cooking  facilities,  and  no  doubt  many 
a  big  dinner  was  cooked  there  in  the  olden  time.  But 
the  most  curious  part  of  the  arrangements  was  a  won- 
derful firebox  or  stove  in  the  east  room,  that  was  fed 
through  an  opening  in  the  back  of  the  kitchen  chim- 
ney. The  plates  of  this  ancient  firebox  or  stove,  are 
still  lying  there,  massive  and  highly  ornamented  with 
curious  figures,  circular,  oval,  and  diamond  shaped, 
with  flower  vases  filled  with  lillies  and  lanceolate 
leaves.     On  one  plate  is  this  inscription : 

COM-BAN-NI 

1766 

Another  plate  contains  the  following : 

GEORGE  ROSS-ANN 

MARY   ANN 

FURNACE 

It  appears  that  George  Ross  and  ]\Iary  Ann's  ''Com- 
banni"    (Company),    wherever    it    was    located,    had 


REVOLUTIONARY  INXIDENTS  223 

some  original  methods  of  spelling,  and  "^lary  Ann" 
had  practical  ideas  about  woman's  rights,  and  has  suc- 
ceeded in  transmitting  her  own  name  along  with 
George's  to  posterity. 

The  north  side  of  the  building,  it  is  said,  is  covered 
with  the  original  cypress  shingles  put  there  in  1766. 
They  are  decayed  in  some  places,  but  generally 
covered  with  lichen  and  moss,  and  have  turned  the 
rains  and  upheld  the  snows  of  one  hundred  and  four- 
teen summers  and  winters. 

It  is  conjectured  that  the  main  body  of  the  British 
army  passed  by  this  stone  house  on  the  evening  of  the 
second  of  February,  1781,  on  their  march  to  the  Trad- 
ing Ford.  It  has  been  constantly  reported  that  on  that 
occasion,  an  American  officer,  who  was  probably  on  a 
reconnoitering  expedition,  was  nearly  overtaken  by 
British  dragoons  near  this  house.  He  turned  and 
fled  for  life.  As  the  party  came  thundering  down  the 
hill  the  American  rode  full  tilt  into  the  front  door  of 
this  house,  leaped  his  horse  from  the  back  door,  and  so 
escaped  down  the  branch  bottom  and  through  the 
thickets,  towards  Salisbury. 

Another  local  tradition  tells  of  a  furious  hand-to- 
hand  encounter  between  an  American  and  a  British 
soldier  in  the  front  door  of  the  stone  house.  The  deep 
gashes  of  the  swords  are  still  shown  in  the  old  walnut 
doorposts.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  some  such 
conflict  took  place  there.  It  is  true  that  the  cuts  and 
gashes  might  have  been  made  with  any  other  kind  of 
instrument.  But  the  descendants  of  Michael  Braun 
still  live  there,  and  they,  as  well  as  the  neighbors,  still 


224  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

tell  the  tale  as  they  heard  it  from  their  forefathers, 
substantially  as  above  written. 

In  a  little  graveyard,  walled  in  with  stones,  a  few 
hundred  yards  from  the  stone  house,  lie  the  remains 
of  Michael  Braun,  and  his  wife,  with  quite  a  number 
of  his  descendants.  The  following  is  the  inscription 
on  a  plain  old-fashioned  headstone,  dedicated  to  the 
memory  of  the  wife  and  mother. 

1771 

GESTORBEX  JULIUS  20 

HIER  LIEGHT  DER  LIEB 

MRCREDA  BRAUN  DES 

ML.  BRAUN'S  EHE  WIEB 

HAT  9  KINDER,  6  SON 

3  D.  ALT  37  JAHR  2  MO. 

The  above  inscription  is  in  the  dialect  known  in 
North  Carolina  as  ''Pennsylvania  Dutch."  The  fol- 
lowing is  perhaps  a  good  translation  of  the  epitaph : 

1 77 1,  Died  July  20 

Here  lies  the  body  of  ^Margaret  Braun,  ]\Iichael 
Braun's  wedded  wife.  She  had  nine  children,  six 
sons  and  three  daughters.  Aged  thirty-seven  years 
and  two  months. 

As  Michael  Braun  had  an  extensive  family,  and  his 
descendants  in  this  and  adjoining  counties  are  numer- 
ous, the  reader  may  not  object  to  see  an  account  of 
this  family  as  far  as  known. 


REVOLUTIONARY    IXCIDENTS  225 

Michael  Braun  was  married  several  times,  and  the 
following  is  a  list  of  his  children  so  far  as  known. 
In  the  absence  of  complete  records  we  depend  to  a 
large  extent  upon  the  memory  of  one  who  knew  per- 
sonally most  of  the  individuals  named.  It  is  not 
postively  certain  that  the  sons  of  ]\Iichael  Braun  are 
mentioned  in  the  order  of  seniority.  They  were  named 
John.  Peter,  ^Moses,  James,  and  Jeremiah. 

1.  John,  the  eldest,  for  some  reason  or  other,  was 
called  ''Continental  John,"  probably  because  he  served 
in  the  Continental  army  during  the  Revolution.  He 
was  the  father  of  the  late  ]\Irs.  Jacob  Myers  of  Salis- 
bury. 

2.  Peter  married  Miss  Susanna  Bruner,  a  daughter 
of  Mr.  George  Bruner,  who  lived  at  the  place  which  is 
the  present  residence  of  Dr.  Albert  Powe,  now  known 
as  the  'Towe  Place/'  formerly  called  the  "Bruner 
Place."  This  couple  were  blessed  with  a  number  of 
children.  Their  daughter  Elizabeth  married  Thos. 
L.  Cowan  of  Salisbury,  and  was  the  mother  of  the  late 
Airs.  Charlotte  Jenkins  and  Mrs.  Mary  Hall.  Mary, 
another  daughter,  married  Barny  Bowers.  Susan 
married  a  Mr.  Thompson,  of  Randolph.  Margaret 
married  Joseph  Chambers,  of  Iredell  County,  and  was 
the  mother  of  Alajor  P.  B.  Chambers,  now  of  States- 
ville.     Sally  married  Dr.  Satterwhite. 

Besides  these  daughters,  Peter  and  Susanna  Brown 
had  two  sons,  the  late  Michael  and  George  Brown,  of 
Salisbury.  These  two  sons  married  daughters  of 
Alexander  Long,  of  Yadkin  Ferry,  and  sisters  of  the 
late  Dr.  Alexander  Long,  of  Salisbury. 


226  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

Peter  Brown  first  settled  about  two  miles  east  of 
Salisbury,  but  soon  moved  into  town.  He  purchased 
the  building  on  the  west  corner  of  Main  and  Innes 
Streets,  where  he  carried  on  a  store  for  many  years. 
The  place  was  occupied  by  his  son,  Michael  Brown, 
after  him,  until  about  i860.  The  place  is  commonly 
known  as  McNeely's  corner,  and  is  now  occupied  by 
the  firm  of  Ross  &  Greenfield. 

3.  Moses,  the  third  son  in  the  above  list,  was  bom 
February  24,  1773,  and  married  Catherine  Swink. 
The  oldest  son  of  Moses  and  Catherine  Brown  was 
named  Michael  S.,  and  was  born  December  28,  1797. 
He  lived  near  his  birthplace,  and  left  a  large  family. 
He  died  November  28,  1849. 

A  second  son  was  the  late  Moses  (L.)  Brown  of 
Salisbury,  who  lived  where  Martin  Richwine  now 
lives,  and  his  daughters,  Mrs.  Richwine  and  Mrs. 
Johnston  are  residents  of  Salisbury. 

A  third  son  of  Moses  (son  of  Michael  Braun)  was 
the  late  Peter  (M.)  Brown,  of  Charlotte.  Peter  (M.) 
Brown  was  first  married  to  Elizabeth  Pool,  of  Salis- 
bury, by  whom  he  had  two  children,  John  L.  Brown, 
Esq.,  of  Charlotte,  and  Margaret  C.  Brown,  who  was 
married  to  Dr.  John  R.  Dillard,  of  Virginia.  John  L. 
Brown,  of  Charlotte,  married  Miss  Nancy  I,  daughter 
of  the  late  Jennings  B.  Kerr,  of  Charlotte,  and  has 
represented  his  County — Mecklenburg — three  sessions 
in  the  Legislature;  each  time  being  elected  almost 
unanimously.  Moses  Brown  (son  of  Michael)  had 
also  another  son,  Alfred  Brown,  who  settled  in  Con- 
cord; and  two  daughters,  Sophia  and  Sally. 


REVOLUTIONARY    INCIDENTS  227 

4.  The  fourth  son  of  Michael  Braun,  of  the  "Stone 
House,"  was  named  James.  He  continued  to  live  in 
the  old  neighborhood,  and  his  descendants  are  found 
scattered  around  the  place  of  their  nativity. 

5.  Another,  the  youngest  son  of  Michael  Braun,  of 
the  "Stone  House,"  was  Jeremiah.  He  married  the 
widow  of  Tobias  Furr.  Mrs.  Furr  was  the  mother  of 
three  children  by  her  first  marriage — Mary  Furr,  who 
married  John  Murphy;  Elizabeth  Furr,  who  married 
Samuel  Lemly;  and  Louisa  Furr,  who  married 
William  H.  Horah,  all  of  Salisbury.  By  her  marriage 
with  Jeremiah  Brown  she  had  also  three  children — 
Margaret,  who  married  Thomas  Dickson ;  Delia,  who 
married  John  Coughenour;  and  the  late  Col.  Jeremiah 
M.  Brown,  whose  widow  and  children  still  live  in 
Salisbury. 

6.  The  last  wife  of  Michael  Braun  of  the  ''Stone 
House"  was  Mrs.  Eleanora  Reeves.  Mrs.  Reeves  was 
a  Maryland  lady,  named  Wakefield,  and  was  first  mar- 
ried to  William  Reeves,  when  quite  young,  by  whom 
she  had  four  children — Thomas,  Samuel,  Sally,  and 
Nancy.  Samuel  was  the  late  Samuel  Reeves,  the 
father  of  Dr.  Samuel  Reeves  and  of  Mrs.  Sarah 
Johnston.  Nancy  Reeves  married  a  Mr.  Kiestler,  and 
was  the  mother  of  Mrs.  Jane  Price,  and  the  grand- 
mother of  Robert  W^akefield  Price  and  others,  now  of 
Salisbury. 

By  her  marriage  with  Michael  Braun,  Mrs.  Reeves 
had  one  child,  Clementine,  who  was  married  to  Charles 
Verble.  Their  daughter  Eleanora  is  the  wife  of  Mr. 
Thomas  E.  Brown,  and  mother  of  Lewis  V.  Brown 


228  HISTORY   OF  ROWAN    COUNTY 

of  Texas,  and  Frank  Brown  of  Salisbury.  Of  the 
daughters  of  Michael  Braun  the  writer  has  no  knowl- 
edge, nor  has  it  been  thought  fit  to  extend  the  notice  of 
other  descendants  to  a  later  period.  It  is  perhaps 
necessary  to  remark  in  closing  this  notice  that  the 
German  word  "Braun"  signifies  dark  or  brown,  and 
that  it  was  pronounced  in  German  exactly  as  our  En- 
glish word,  ''brown."  Old  ^Michael's  descendants 
therefore  discarded  the  German  spelling  and  signed 
themselves  ''Brown." 

Dunn's  Graves 

On  the  north  side  of  the  Stone  House  farm,  and  ad- 
joining it,  were  John  Dunn's  country  farm  and  resi- 
dence. The  house  was  built  of  wood  and  has  long 
since  disappeared,  but  a  depression  in  the  ground  still 
marks  the  spot  where  the  old  lawyer's  cellars  once  ex- 
isted. Not  far  from  this  spot  there  is  a  small  cluster 
of  graves,  known  in  the  neighborhood  as  "Dunn's 
Graves."  The  plow  of  the  farmer  has  gone  over  the 
spot,  the  wheat  and  the  corn  have  grown  rankly  over 
it,  and  the  eye  of  the  stranger  would  never  detect  the 
place.  But  aged  citizens,  who  may  not  linger  long 
to  hand  down  the  tradition,  are  still  able  to  point  out 
with  precision  the  spot  where  their  fathers  said  John 
Dunn  is  sleeping  his  last  sleep,  side  by  side  with  some 
of  his  own  race  and  kindred.  As  a  general  guide  to 
the  locality,  it  may  be  stated  that  the  spot  is  a  short  dis- 
tance— say  a  half-mile — from  ]\Ir.  Asa  Ribelin's  house, 
in  the  direction  of  Salisbury.  It  is  a  pity  that  so  many 
of  these  country  burial-grounds  are  allowed  to  fall  into 


REVOLUTIONARY    INCIDENTS  229 

decay,  to  pass  into  the  hands  of  strangers,  leaving  no 
trace  of  the  spot  where  the  pioneers  of  this  land  are 
laid  in  their  last  resting-place. 

Capt.  Alexander  Shannon 

was  an  officer  in  General  Greene's  army,  who  lost  his 
life  in  Salisbury  in  1781.  He  was  engaged  in  some 
unrecorded  skirmish,  or  reconnoitering  expedition, 
somewhere  on  the  slope  of  the  hill  now  covered  by  the 
South  Ward  of  Salisbury,  where  he  was  slain  by  the 
British.  Twenty  years  ago  some  of  the  older  citizens 
could  remember,  in  one  of  our  cemeteries,  a  headstone, 
marked  with  his  name.  But  it  has  either  fallen  down, 
been  removed,  or  sunk  beneath  the  turf.  Captain 
Shannon  was  from  Guilford  County,  a  brave  soldier 
and  a  true  patriot.  He  was  the  grand-uncle  of  our 
fellow-townsman,  S.  H.  Wiley,  Esq. 

Joseph  Hughes  and  Col.  David  Fanning 

Colonel  Fanning,  the  notorious  Tory  marauder, 
who  kept  Randolph,  Orange,  and  Moore  Counties  in 
terror  for  several  years,  is  said  to  have  paid  SaHsbury 
at  least  one  visit  during  the  war.  The  reader  of  North 
Carolina  annals  will  remember  his  atrocious  murder  of 
Col.  Andrew  Balfour,  of  Randolph  County,  on  the 
ninth  of  March,  1782.  About  that  time,  an  EngHsh- 
man  by  the  name  of  Joseph  Hughes  was  keeping  a  vil- 
lage inn,  at  the  place  afterwards  known  as  "Slaughter's 
Hotel,"  in  Salisbury.  This  place  was  afterwards  known 
as  the  "Robard's  Hotel,"  and  the  place  is  now  occupied 
as  a  residence  by  Mr.  Theo.  F.  Kluttz.     Having  heard 


230  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

that  Fanning  was  crossing  the  Yadkin,  somewhere 
about  the  Island  Ford,  and  having  lost  an  arm,  and 
being  thereby  disabled  from  fighting,  Hughes  deter- 
mined to  save  himself  and  family  by  a  stratagem. 
Accordingly  he  rolled  some  barrels  of  whiskey  into 
the  street  in  front  of  his  inn,  knocked  the  heads  out, 
and  placed  a  number  of  tin  cups  conveniently  around. 
The  bait  took,  and  Fanning's  myrmidons  got  beastly 
drunk,  and  so  were  disabled  from  doing  the  mischief 
they  intended  to  do.  Hughes  seized  the  opportunity 
to  escape  through  the  thickets  and  brushwood  in  the 
rear  of  his  house.  It  is  not  known  that  these  desper- 
adoes did  any  serious  mischief  in  the  town.  Joseph 
Hughes  left  one  son,  Hudson  Hughes,  who  married 
the  daughter  of  Col.  Andrew  Balfour.  The  daughter 
of  this  couple,  Mary,  became  the  wife  of  Samuel 
Reeves,  Esq.,  and  the  mother  of  the  late  Dr.  Samuel 
Reeves,  and  of  Mrs.  Sarah  Johnston,  now  of  Cin- 
cinnati. 

The  Oldest  Tree 

Before  quitting  this  ramble  among  the  antiquities  of 
Salisbury  and  vicinity,  it  may  not  be  uninteresting  to 
call  attention  to  the  "oldest  inhabitant"  of  Salisbury, 
in  the  shape  of  a  venerable  sassafras  tree — the  "Big 
Sassafras"  of  John  Beard.  It  stands  very  near  the 
embankment  of  the  W^estern  North  Carolina  Railroad, 
just  after  leaving  the  Company's  workshops,  on  the 
town  side  of  the  embankment,  on  the  same  square  on 
which  Mr.  Charles  Gordon's  house  is  located.  A  re- 
cent  measurement    of   the   tree,    two    feet    from    the 


REVOLUTIONARY    INCIDENTS  2^1 

ground,  makes  it  fourteen  feet  two  inches  in  circum- 
ference— nearly  five  feet  in  diameter.  It  was  standing 
there  in  1806,  and  seemed  then  almost  as  large  in  the 
body,  and  much  larger  in  the  crown  than  at  present. 
At  that  day  John  Beard  had  extensive  orchards  all 
around  in  the  neigborhood,  and  he  chose  the  sassafras 
as  the  fulcrum  of  a  cider  press.  It  was  on  the  hill- 
slope  of  a  beautiful  meadow,  and  just  above  a  crystal 
spring.  Here  on  the  green  grass  lay  heaps  of  blushing 
apples,  which  were  crushed  and  pressed  beneath  the 
powerful  lever  until  the  golden-colored  cider  gushed 
out  in  great  streams.  The  children  from  the  whole 
settlement — for  Salisbury  was  then  a  mere  village,  and 
most  of  its  families  connected  with  each  other — 
gathered  in  the  grassy  valley,  and  drank  to  their 
heart's  content  of  the  beverage,  so  sweet  to  their  sim- 
ple tastes.  That  was  three-fourths  of  a  century  ago. 
Nearly  all  the  children  that  played  there  then  have 
passed  away,  while  the  old  tree  still  stands,  with  trunk 
decaying,  but  leaves  glossy  and  aromatic  as  in  early 
days.  How  old  is  it  ?  Everyone  who  knows  the  slow 
growth  of  that  species  of  tree,  will  think  that  it  would 
require  more  than  a  hundred  years  to  attain  such  a 
size.  It  is  probably  two  hundred  years  old,  or  more, 
and  began  its  growth  long  before  the  first  white  settler 
pitched  his  tent  or  built  his  cabin  between  the  Yadkin 
and  the  Catawba.    Long  may  it  stand ! 

"Woodman !    spare   that  tree, 
Touch  not  a  single  bough; 
In  youth  it  sheltered  me. 
And  I'll  protect  it  now," 


232  history  of  rowan  county 

Lord  Cornwallis  Departs 

But  it  is  time  to  return  from  these  sketches,  that 
have  Httle  or  no  connection  with  the  occupation  of  the 
British  army,  to  the  departure  of  Lord  CornwaUis. 
Having  remained  in  SaHsbury  part  of  three  days,  he 
took  his  departure  early  on  Tuesday  morning,  the 
sixth  of  February.  His  march  was  up  the  Wilkes- 
boro  Road,  crossing  Grant's  Creek,  Second  Creek, 
Third  and  Fourth  Creeks.  A  march  of  about  fifteen 
or  eighteen  miles  brought  them  to  their  first  encamp- 
ment, on  the  west  side  of  the  South  Fork  of  the  Yad- 
kin, not  far  from  Rencher's  (or  Renshaw's)  Ford. 
A  little  stream,  called  Beaver  Dam,  would  furnish 
them  water,  and  the  well-to-do  farmers  of  South 
River  and  Fourth  Creek — the  Johnstons,  Luckeys, 
Grahams,  Gillespies,  and  Knoxes — had  capacious  and 
well-filled  barns,  cribs,  and  granaries.  It  was  at  this 
encampment  that  \\'illiam  Young,  mentioned  in  a  pre- 
vious chapter,  had  his  adventures  with  the  British 
soldiers.  On  the  seventh,  the  British  crossed  the  Shal- 
low Ford  of  the  main  Yadkin,  where  little  John  Spur- 
gen  caught  sight  of  them,  and  hastened  with  the  news 
to  General  Greene.  They  there  passed  out  of  Rowan 
County.  The  general  histories  of  the  State  will  in- 
form the  reader  of  Greene's  retreat  across  the  Dan, 
Lord  Cornwallis'  march  to  Hillsboro,  the  return  of 
both  armies  to  Guilford,  where  the  battle  of  Guilford 
Courthouse  was  fought  on  the  fifteenth  of  IMarch  fol- 
lowing; of  Lord  Cornwallis'  march  to  Wilmington, 
and  Greene's  hasty  march  to  Camden,  and  his  battle 


REVOLUTIONARY    INCIDENTS'  233 

with  Lord  Rawdon  at  Hobkirk's  Hill  on  the  twenty- 
fifth  of  April.  But  these  movements  do  not  fall  within 
the  scope  of  these  papers.  The  great  armies  had 
swept  on,  and  Rowan  County  was  left  to  herself.  But 
it  was  an  uneasy  and  unsettled  time,  for  many  were  the 
Tories  that  hung  around  her  borders,  and  depredations 
were  frequently  committed  upon  the  peaceful  families 
of  the  Whigs.  The  men  who  were  able  for  war  were 
absent,  and  the  feeble  noncombatants  were  unable  to 
resist  the  violence  of  Tory  raiders.  But  brighter  days 
were  near  at  hand.  Cornwallis  surrendered  at  York- 
town,  October  19,  1781.  On  the  fourth  of  March, 
1782,  the  British  House  of  Commons  passed  a  resolu- 
tion in  favor  of  peace,  and  active  hostilities  ceased. 
This  day  has  been  chosen  as  the  day  for  the  inaugura- 
tion of  the  Presidents  of  the  United  States. 


CHAPTER  XIX 


THE    FIRST   YEARS   OF    PEACE 

On  the  nineteenth  of  October,  1781,  Lord  Cornwallis 
surrendered  to  General  Washington,  at  Yorktown,  in 
Virginia.  It  was  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  a  day  or 
two  after,  that  the  news  of  this  closing  scene  in  the 
mighty  drama  reached  Philadelphia.  A  watchman  in 
the  street  called  out.  ''Twelve  o'clock,  and  a  cloudy 
morning  —  Cornwallis  taken/'  In  a  short  time  the 
whole  city  was  aroused,  and  the  wildest  manifestations 
of  joy  were  displayed.  The  same  news  ran  rapidly 
over  all  the  States,  and  the  people  in  every  village 
and  hamlet  were  filled  with  gladness.  In  England, 
all  hope  of  subjugating  the  States  was  abandoned,  and 
Lord  North  retired  from  the  Ministry  and  the  Whigs 
took  charge  of  the  government.  Negotiations  for 
peace  were  entered  into,  and  five  commissioners  from 
the  United  States  met  a  like  number  from  England  in 
Paris,  and  a  provisional  treaty  of  peace  was  signed 
September  3,  1782.  A  final  treaty  was  signed  at  the 
same  place,  on  the  third  of  September,  1783,  and  each 
of  the  original  Thirteen  Colonies  was  acknowledged 
by  Great  Britain  to  be  an  Independent  and  Sovereign 
State. 

But  though  peace  with  England  was  declared,  there 
were  many  bitter  heartburnings  in  the  breasts  of  the 


236  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

people  among  themselves.  The  army  was  unpaid,  and 
efforts  were  made  to  array  it  against  Congress,  and 
thus  turn  over  the  public  civil  government  into  a  mil- 
itary despotism.  Nothing  but  the  courage  and  patriot- 
ism of  General  Washington  averted  that  sad  calamity. 
Besides  this  there  were  many  Loyalists  in  every 
part  of  the  country,  some  of  whom  had  taken  up  arms 
in  behalf  of  Great  Britain,  and  many  others  had  re- 
mained neutral  in  the  struggle.  When  peace  came  the 
Whigs  could  scarcely  feel  that  their  Tory  neighbors 
ought  to  enjoy  equal  rights  and  privileges  with  them- 
selves, and  no  doubt  were  easily  provoked  to  taunt 
them  with  insulting  epithets.  These  were  days  of 
violence,  and  he  who  had  the  brawniest  arm,  or  was 
most  active  of  limb,  came  out  conqueror.  T^Iany  of 
the  Loyalists  voluntarily  removed  to  distant  parts  of 
the  countr}^  while  others  received  legal  notice  to  de- 
part. Besides  this,  suits  were  brought  against  many 
for  the  confiscation  of  their  property  for  disloyalty, 
according  to  Act  of  the  x\ssembly  of  North  Carolina. 
This  Act  was  adopted  at  the  first  meeting  of  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  under  the  Constitution,  at  Newbern, 
April  8,  1777,  and  declared  it  to  be  treason  and  pun- 
ishable with  death  and  confiscation  of  goods,  to  take 
commission  in  the  army  of  Great  Britain  in  North 
Carolina,  or  to  aid  or  assist  in  any  way  the  enemies  of 
the  State.  The  law  was  terribly  severe,  and  was  never 
fully  executed.  Still,  in  1782,  twenty-two  persons 
were  summoned  to  appear  before  the  Rowan  Inferior 
Court  charged  with  disloyalty.  Some  were  found 
guilty  and  some  were  acquitted.     But  the  sale  of  the 


THE    FIRST    YEARS    OF    PEACE  237 

property  of  those  found  guilty  was  postponed.  At 
the  Inferior  Court  of  Rowan  for  February,  1783,  no 
less  than  one  hundred  and  sixty  persons  were  cited  to 
appear  and  show  cause  why  their  estates  should  not  be 
confiscated.  Though  the  citation  was  signed  with 
the  names  of  Griffith  Rutherford,  James  Macay,  Wil- 
liam Sharpe,  and  Robert  Alackie,  magistrates,  holding 
the  Court,  it  is  recorded  that  the  entire  lot  made  de- 
fault, and  thereby  ignored  or  defied  the  Court.  The 
curious  reader  will  find  a  list  of  their  names  on  Minute 
Docket  of  Rowan  Inferior  Court  for  February,  1783, 
volume  1778-86.  It  has  been  supposed  that  a  con- 
siderable part  of  the  German  population  of  Rowan 
were  neutral  or  averse  to  the  war.  But  if  such  was 
the  case  not  many  of  them  committed  any  overt  act 
bringing  them  within  purview  of  the  law  provided 
against  disloyalty.  Out  of  one  hundred  and  eighty- 
two  names  but  a  small  part — about  one-fifth — are 
German  names ;  the  rest  are  common  English  names. 
The  revolutions  of  one  hundred  years  have  softened 
the  asperities  and  rounded  off  the  sharp  prejudices  en- 
gendered by  the  great  conflict,  and  we  are  now  able  to 
see  that  it  could  be  possible  for  a  man  to  be  con- 
scientiously convinced  that  it  was  his  duty  to  main- 
tain his  loyalty  to  the  king  to  whom  he  had  given  his 
oath  of  allegiance.  But  it  was  more  than  could  be  reas- 
onably expected  of  the  suffering  patriots  of  that  day 
to  see  it  in  that  light.  Still — slowly,  imperceptibly — 
better  days  came  on,  and  the  husbandman  could  again 
devote  his  whole  time  to  the  improvement  of  his  farm, 
and  the  good  housewives  to  their  domestic  affairs.  In 


238  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

those  days  the  farmer's  hfe  was  far  more  independent 
and  self-sustaining  than  at  present.  With  the  excep- 
tion of  a  few  articles,  such  as  iron,  salt,  a  little  sugar 
and  coffee  or  chocolate,  pepper  and  spice,  the  farm, 
the  flocks  and  herds  yielded  all  that  was  consumed  at 
the  homes  of  our  people.  The  table  was  loaded  with 
home  productions. 

The  operations  of  the  farm  were  carried  on  with 
rude  and  simple  implements  and  in  a  primitive  way. 
The  market  for  grain  and  flour  was  several  hundred 
miles  distant,  and  the  expense  of  transportation  was 
too  great  to  justify  the  raising  of  more  than  was 
needed  on  the  farm.  The  rich  new  grounds  and  bot- 
tom lands  with  their  virgin  soil  brought  forth  a 
bountiful  crop  with  little  labor,  and  left  a  large  margin 
of  time  for  fishing  and  hunting.  There  was  always  a 
"slack  season"  between  the  "laying  by"  of  crops  and 
fodder-pulling  time.  That  was  the  time  to  hunt  squir- 
rels, and  the  crack  of  the  rifle  might  be  heard  around 
the  cornfields  on  all  sides.  And  then  fishing  expedi- 
tions were  organized  to  some  favorite  pond  or  stretch 
of  the  river,  where  with  long  circling  seine  the  jump- 
ing trout  and  the  blushing  redhorse  were  captured. 
The  farmers'  boys  knew  where  the  sweetest  wild 
grapes  or  the  most  tempting  muscadines  grew,  or 
where  the  thinnest-shelled  scalybarks,  or  fattest 
hickory  nuts,  or  the  plumpest  and  juiciest  black  haws 
were  to  be  found,  and  visited  them  accordingly.  Those 
same  farmers'  boys  also  knew  the  haw  trees,  persim- 
mon trees,  and  grapevines  in  all  the  country  around 
that  were  likely  to  be  frequented  by  the  fat  opossums 


THE    FIRST   YEARS    OF    PEACE  239 

in  the  later  fall,  and  they  had  their  'possum  dogs  in 
good  training  by  the  time  the  first  hard  frost  ripened 
the  persimmons  and  the  opossum  himself,  and  made 
his  flesh  fit  for  eating.  But  before  that  time  came 
around,  even  the  "slack  season"  had  some  work  to  be 
done.  No  circulating  threshing  machine  or  separator 
was  then  to  be  found,  to  clean  up  the  wheat  and  oats 
of  a  farm  in  a  single  day.  Instead  of  that  the  farmer 
built  his  double  log-barn  with  a  threshing  or  tramping 
floor  between  the  stables.  The  wheat  and  oats  were 
hauled  from  the  harvest  fields  and  packed  on  the  sta- 
ble lofts,  and  on  the  loft  over  the  barn  floor.  This 
floor  was  usually  twenty-five  or  thirty  feet  square,  and 
was  shut  in  on  both  sides  with  huge  folding  doors. 
When  the  tramping  time  came  a  floor  of  wheat  was 
thrown  down,  bundles  untied  and  laid  in  a  circle 
around  the  center  of  the  floor.  The  folding  doors  were 
thrown  open,  and  several  spans  of  horses  were  put  in 
to  walk  around  and  around  upon  the  wheat  until  it 
was  separated  from  the  straw  and  chaff — the  attend- 
ants in  the  meantime  turning  over  the  straw  as  re- 
quired. At  first  the  wheat  was  winnowed  with  a 
sheet,  or  coverlet  tied  up  by  two  corners,  and  briskly 
swung  by  two  men,  while  one  slowly  poured  down  the 
mixed  wheat  and  chaff.  But  wheat  fans  were  soon 
introduced,  and  their  clatter  could  be  heard  at  a  great 
distance,  doing  up  the  work  neatly  and  rapidly. 

The  oats,  being  more  easily  crushed  by  the  hard 
hoofs,  and  the  straw  being  used  to  make  "cut  feed"  for 
the  horses,  were  usually  threshed  out  with  flails,  the 
bundles  being  kept  entire.     No  matter  if  the  grain  was 


240  HISTORY   OF  ROWAX    COUNTY 

not   entirely   taken   out — the   horses   would   get   it   in 
their  feed. 

Later  in  the  fall  was  the  time  for  pulling  and  shuck- 
ing the  corn.  A  huge  long  heap,  or  straight  or  cres- 
cent-shaped, containing  thirty,  fifty,  or  a  hundred  loads 
of  corn  in  the  shucks,  was  piled  up  in  the  barnyard. 
On  a  given  day  a  boy  was  sent  out  to  ask  hands  to 
come  in  to  the  shucking  on  a  night  appointed.  Fifty 
hands  perhaps,  might  come  just  at  dark.  A  rail  would 
be  placed  in  the  middle,  and  the  hands  divided  by  two 
captains  who  threw  up  "cross  and  pile"  for  first  choice 
of  hands.  Then  came  the  race,  the  shouting,  the  hur- 
rahing, and  the  singing  of  corn  songs  if  any  negroes 
were  present.  And  generally  a  bottle  of  brandy  was 
circulated  several  times  and  was  sampled  by  most  of 
those  present.  Quite  a  number  would  sometimes  get 
excited  by  the  liquor,  but  it  was  considered  disgraceful 
to  get  drunk.  Sometimes  a  fight  would  occur,  espe- 
cially if  the  race  was  a  close  one.  The  winning  side 
would  try  to  carry  their  captain  around  the  pile  in 
triumph,  but  a  well-directed  ear  of  corn,  sent  by  some 
spiteful  hand  on  the  beaten  side,  would  strike  a  mem- 
ber of  the  triumphal  procession,  and  thereby  bad 
blood  would  be  excited,  and  a  promiscuous  fight  occur. 
But  these  were  rare  accidents.  After  the  corn  was 
shucked,  and  the  shucks  put  into  a  pen,  came  the 
shucking  supper — loaf,  biscuits,  ham,  pork,  chicken 
pie,  pumpkin  custard,  sweet  cakes,  apple  pie,  grape 
pie,  coffee,  sweet  milk,  buttermilk,  preserves,  in  short 
a  rich  feast  of  everything  yielded  by  the  farm.  It  re- 
quired a  good  digestion  to  manage  such  a  feast  at  ten 


THE   FIRST   YEARS   OF    PEACE  24I 

or  eleven  o'clock  at  night,  but  the  hardy  sons  of  toil 
had  a  good  digestion.  Or  if  anything  were  wanting,  a 
tramp  of  four  or  five  miles,  on  an  opossum  or  coon 
hunt,  lasting  till  one  or  two  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
would  be  sufficient  to  settle  the  heartiest  shucking  sup- 
per that  ever  was  spread  on  the  farmers'  tables  in 
bountiful  Old  Rowan  County. 

The  tanner  and  the  shoemaker,  the  hatter,  the  black- 
smith, and  the  weaver  plied  their  vocations  all  over 
the  county.  The  wandering  tinker  came  around  at  in- 
tervals, with  his  crucible  and  his  molds  for  spoons, 
plates,  and  dishes,  and  melted  and  transformed  into 
bright  new  articles  the  old  broken  pewter  fragments 
that  were  carefully  preserved.  How  the  youngsters 
would  stare  at  him  as  he  stirred  the  molten  pewter 
with  his  bare  finger!  And  how  diligently  the  boys 
hunted  the  rabbit,  mink,  muskrat,  otter,  and  raccoon, 
and  preserved  their  skins,  to  be  taken  to  the  hatter  at 
Jumping  Run  or  Cross  Keys  or  Dutch  Second  Creek, 
to  be  made  into  a  sleek  and  shining  beaver,  to  be  worn 
as  their  first  "fur  hat,"  instead  of  the  old  heavy,  hard 
''wool  hat,"  that  was  now  to  be  used  only  as  an  every- 
day hat.  Every  house  had  its  pairs  of  cards  for  wool 
and  cotton,  its  large  and  small  spinning  wheel,  revolv- 
ing rapidly  under  the  pressure  of  deft  fingers  or  strong 
and  elastic  foot,  while  the  thread  or  yarn,  by  the  "cut" 
and  "hank,"  hung  on  pegs  on  the  wall.  As  the  visitor 
approached  the  house,  as  soon  as  the  morning  chores 
were  "done  up,"  he  would  hear  the  deep  bass  rumbling 
of  the  large  wheel,  or  the  buzzing  of  the  little  flax 
wheel,  with  its  hooked  "flyers"   whirHng  the  thread 


242  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

around  until  sufficiently  twisted,  and  then  letting  the 
thread  skillfully  in  on  the  spool.  Or  perhaps  he 
would  hear  the  creaking  of  the  reel,  with  its  sharp 
click,  as  it  told  when  a  "cut"  was  reeled  from  the 
spool.  Or  perhaps  he  would  see  a  pair  of  huge  "warp- 
ing bars,"  or  "winding  blades"  slowly  revolving,  as 
they  measured  off  the  "chain"  or  "filling"  of  the  next 
six  hundred  "slaie"  of  plain  white  shirting  or  copperas 
cloth,  or  it  may  be  of  "Hnsey"  or  perhaps  "jeans." 
And  then  what  efforts  were  put  forth  to  secure  the 
most  brilliant  dyes,  and  the  fastest  colors!  The  gar- 
den contained  a  bed  of  "madder,"  whose  roots  gave  the 
brown  or  red  dye.  A  patch  of  indigo  furnished  the 
blue.  Walnut  roots  and  bark,  or  maple  bark,  with  a 
little  copperas,  supplied  the  tints  of  black  and  purple, 
or  a  little  logwood  gave  a  lustrous  black.  No  "aniline 
dyes"  were  known,  but  roots,  barks,  and  leaves  lent 
their  essential  colors  to  the  fabrics  spun  and  woven  by 
fair  maidens  and  hearty  matrons.  The  Fourth  of  July 
in  those  days  was  the  grand  holiday  of  the  year.  An 
orator  was  procured,  and  the  Declaration  was  im- 
pressively read,  and  the  daring  deeds  of  the  illustrious 
statesmen  of  1776  were  commemorated.  It  would  be 
varied  with  now  and  then  a  military  parade,  with 
screaming  fife  and  rattling  drum,  and  now  and  then  a 
barbecue.  Early  in  the  spring  the  good  wives  began  to 
get  up  the  Fourth  of  July  suits  for  their  husbands, 
each  priding  herself  on  having  the  most  nicely  dressed 
husband  on  that  gala  day.  Old  silks  were  cut  up  into 
shreds,  picked  to  pieces,  and  carded  with  cotton  to 
make  a  "silk  mixed"  coat.     Vests  with  "turkey  red" 


THE   FIRST   YEARS   OF    PEACE  243 

stripes,  cut  bias,  and  pointing  like  chevrons  to  the  but- 
tons, were  in  the  height  of  fashion.  Knee  breeches, 
with  long  stockings  tied  with  garters,  and  shoes  with 
huge  silver  buckles  had  not  gone  out  of  style  in  those 
days.  The  material  of  the  breeches  was  not  infre- 
quently a  soft,  pHant,  yellow  buckskin,  very  ''stretchy" 
of  a  rainy  day.  The  wife  of  a  distinguished  citizen 
of  Salisbury  in  those  days  is  said  to  have  excelled  all 
the  rest  by  rigging  her  husband  out  on  a  certain 
Fourth  of  July  in  a  full  suit  of  "nankeen  cotton," 
carded,  spun,  woven,  and  made  in  her  own  house. 
Another  textile  fabric  of  those  days  was  flax.  The 
flax  patch,  with  its  delicate  blue  blossoms,  was  a  pleas- 
ing spectacle.  And  the  flax  was  skillfully  pulled,  the 
seed  threshed  out,  and  in  due  time  laid  out  to  "rot." 
When  the  inner  stem  was  sufficiently  "rotted,"  the  pon- 
derous strokes  of  the  huge  "flax  brake"  could  be 
heard,  and  the  swish  of  the  scutcher  as  he  cleaned  the 
fiber  with  his  sharp-edged  paddle.  And  lastly,  the 
heckhng  process  separated  the  tow  from  the  perfect 
linen.  The  flax-wheel  with  its  "rock"  wound  with 
flax  required  the  highest  skill,  and  the  product  when 
bleached  furnished  the  beautiful  linen  whose  snowy 
whiteness  was  the  pride  of  the  most  ambitious  and 
thrifty  housekeepers  of  Rowan.  Her  own  attire  was 
also  made  by  her  own  fingers,  and  she  was  an  adept  in 
stripes  and  checks,  knew  how  to  insert  gores  and 
gussets,  and  if  tall,  how  to  eke  out  the  cloth  to  the 
proper  length.  But  finer  articles  were  often  needed 
for  female  attire  than  these  home-made  fabrics. 
Ribbons  and  laces,  with  satin  and  brocade,  were  also  in 


244  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

demand  from  the  looms  of  France  and  Italy.  A  leg- 
horn or  dunstable,  or  perhaps  a  silk  gig  bonnet, 
prunella  or  morocco  shoes,  bound  on  with  ribbons 
crossing  coquettishly  over  the  foot  and  around  the 
ankle,  and  peeping  shyly  beneath  the  short  dress,  com- 
pleted her  attire.  And  then,  mounted  on  a  spirited 
horse  of  her  own,  or  may  be  on  a  pillion  behind,  she 
was  ready  to  accompany  her  escort  for  a  ten  or  twenty 
mile  ride  to  church,  to  a  wedding,  a  party,  or  a  quilt- 
ing frolic.  Those  were  active,  healthful,  buoyant, 
blithesome  times,  those  early  days  of  American  Inde- 
pendence, and  it  is  probable  that  the  sum  total  of  social 
and  domestic  happiness  was  greater  than  in  these  ad- 
vanced days.  The  more  people  help  themselves,  as  a 
general  rule,  the  happier  they  are.  There  is  gladness 
in  the  successful  ingenuity  required  to  supply  the  real 
and  artificial  wants  of  domestic  and  social  Hfe.  Some- 
one has  recently  said  that  the  American  is  the  only 
man  that  has  ever  had  enough  to  eat.  And  now  that 
he  has  got  to  the  W^est,  and  can  go  no  further  without 
going  to  the  East,  he  is  turned  back  upon  himself  to 
grow  and  to  prove  what  can  be  made  of  a  man  in  a 
land  of  plenty.  And  those  were  days  of  plenty.  The 
virgin  soil  brought  forth  bountifully.  Herds  of 
cattle  and  droves  of  swine  fed  at  large,  unrestrained  by 
any  stock  law.  Bears,  deer,  turkeys,  wild  geese,  and 
ducks  abounded.  The  Yadkin  and  the  Catawba  were 
filled  with  shad,  trout,  redhorse,  pike,  bream,  perch, 
catfish,  and  eels,  and  the  fisherman  seldom  returned 
without  a  heavy  string  of  fish. 


THE    FIRST    YEARS   OF    PEACE  245 

Besides  this,  the  early  Rowan  man  was  a  man  of 
faith.  He  may  have  been  a  little  rough  and  free  in 
his  manners,  but  he  had  his  religious  behefs,  and  his 
religious  obser^^ances.  On  the  western  side  of  the 
county  the  Presbyterians  had  their  churches — Thya- 
tira,  Third  Creek,  and  Bethphage,  where  Dr.  ^IcCorkle, 
Rev.  Joseph  D,  Kilpatrick,  and  Rev.  John  Carrigan 
preached  and  taught  the  people  the  strong  Calvinism 
of  their  creed.  In  the  eastern  division,  at  the  Organ 
Church,  the  Lower  Stone,  and  elsewhere,  the  devout 
Lutheran  and  German  Reformed  churches  and  minis- 
ters led  the  people  in  the  way  of  life.  SaHsbury  could 
boast  of  but  one  church,  the  Lutheran ;  standing  where 
the  Lutheran  graveyard  now  is.  It  did  not  always 
have  a  pastor,  but  it  was  open  to  all  evangelical  minis- 
ters. Salisbury  Presbyterians  were  a  branch  of 
Thyatira,  and  here  Dr.  McCorkle  often  officiated,  and 
married  his  wife  in  this  place.  Schools  were  kept  up 
and  eminent  teachers  were  employed  to  give  instruc- 
tion to  the  young.  In  this  way  matters  moved  on  with 
nothing  more  exciting  than  a  popular  election  or  a 
general  muster,  for  several  years  after  the  close  of  the 
war. 


CHAPTER  XX 


GENERAL  WASHINGTON'S  VISIT  TO  SALISBURY 

The  most  distinguished  visitor  that  Salisbury  has 
ever  welcomed  was  Gen.  George  Washington  —  the 
President  of  the  United  States.  Wishing  to  see  for 
himself  the  whole  country,  and  no  doubt  hoping  to 
grasp  by  the  hand  many  of  the  war-worn  veterans  who 
had  followed  his  standard  in  a  hundred  marches  and 
battles,  he  planned  and  accomplished  a  southern  tour 
in  the  spring  of  1791.  Irving,  in  his  Life  of  Washing- 
ton, states  that  the  whole  tour  was  accurately  planned^ 
the  places  to  be  visited,  and  the  times  he  would  reach 
and  leave  each  place,  before  he  left  Mount  Vernon, 
and  that  he  carried  out  his  plan  with  the  utmost  pre- 
cision, not  failing  a  single  time.  He  traveled  in  his 
family  carriage,  perhaps  the  one  that  was  on  exhibi- 
tion at  the  Centennial  in  Philadelphia.  He  passed 
down  from  Virginia  through  North  Carolina,  South 
Carolina,  and  Georgia,  near  the  coast,  as  far  as  Savan- 
nah, and  returned  through  Augusta,  Columbia,  Cam- 
den, Charlotte,  Salisbury,  Salem,  and  so  on  to  his 
home.  Several  incidents  of  this  trip  are  worth  record- 
ing. Upon  his  arrival  at  Charleston,  it  is  related  that 
someone  unrolled  a  bolt  of  carpeting  on  the  ground 
for  him  to  walk  upon.  His  severe  republican  sim- 
plicity revolted  at  such  homage  paid  to  a  man.     He 


248  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

rebuked  them  for  their  adulation,  informing  them  that 
such  tokens  of  honor  were  due  from  man  to  his 
Creator  alone.  He,  of  course,  refused  to  walk  upon 
it.  Many  years  after  Washington's  visit  to  Camden, 
the  Marquis  de  LaFayette,  ''the  Nation's  Guest,"  paid 
a  visit  to  the  same  town.  The  committee  of  arrange- 
ments were  anxious  to  have  every  article  of  the  finest 
quality  for  the  distinguished  Frenchman.  A  certain 
lady  offered  a  quilt,  somewhat  faded,  as  a  covering  for 
his  bed.  The  committee  rejected  it  as  quite  unfit  for 
so  important  an  occasion.  Gathering  up  her  quilt  in 
her  arms,  the  lady  began  to  retire,  but  repeating  with 
indignant  tones  these  words,  "a.  greater  and  better  man 
than  LaFayette  slept  under  this  quilt.  If  it  was 
good  enough  for  Washington,  it  was  good  enough  for 
General  LaFayette."  The  astonished  committee 
would  fain  have  recalled  their  hasty  decision,  but  the 
indignant  lady,  with  her  precious  quilt  in  her  arms,  had 
disappeared. 

As  General  Washington  approached  the  borders  of 
North  Carolina,  Capt.  John  Beard,  of  Salisbury,  with 
the  Rowan  ''Light  Horse  Company,"  set  out  for  Char- 
lotte to  meet  and  escort  him  to  Salisbury.  As  the 
cavalcade  was  approaching  Salisbury  a  little  incident 
occurred  of  pleasing  character.  Richard  Brandon, 
Esq.,  then  lived  six  miles  southwest  of  SaHsbury,  at 
the  place  known  by  our  older  citizens  as  the  Stockton 
place,  now  owned  by  C.  H.  McKenzie,  Esq.  The  old 
buildings  stood,  till  a  few  years  ago,  on  the  west  side 
of  the  road,  near  a  little  meadow,  about  halfway 
between  St.  Mary's  Church  and  Mr.  McKenzie's  pres- 


WASHINGTON  S  VISIT  TO  SALISBURY  249 

ent  residence.  As  the  party  neared  this  place  early  in 
the  day,  the  President  being  then  sixty  years  old,  and 
wearied  with  his  journey,  and  knowing  too  that  a  long 
and  fatiguing  reception  awaited  him  in  Salisbury,  be- 
thought him  that  a  little  refreshment  would  strengthen 
him  for  the  day's  work.  So  he  drove  up  to  the  farm- 
er's door,  and  called.  A  neat  and  tidy  lass  of  some 
twelve  or  fourteen  summers — a  daughter  of  Squire 
Brandon,  answered  the  call.  The  President  immediately 
asked  whether  she  could  give  him  a  breakfast.  She 
replied  that  she  did  not  know — that  all  the  grown 
people  were  gone  to  Salisbury  to  see  General  Washing- 
ton. The  President  kindly  assured  her  that  if  she 
would  get  him  some  breakfast,  she  should  see  General 
Washington  before  any  of  her  people,  adding  pleas- 
antly, "I  am  General  Washington."  The  breakfast 
— for  the  President  alone — was  prepared  with  great 
alacrity,  and  the  blushing  maiden  had  the  pleasure, 
not  only  of  seeing,  but  of  conversing  with  General 
\\'ashington,  as  she  dispensed  to  him  her  bountiful 
hospitality. 

This  little  girl's  name  was  Betsy  Brandon,  the 
daughter  of  Richard  Brandon.  Her  mother's  maiden 
name  was  Margaret  Locke,  the  sister  of  Gen.  Matthew 
Locke,  and  the  aunt  of  Judge  Francis  Locke.  A  few 
years  after  this,  Betsy  Brandon  was  married  to  Francis 
McCorkle,  Esq.,  of  Rowan,  and  some  of  their  descend- 
ants still  reside  in  Rowan,  Iredell,  and  Catawba 
Counties.  James  M.  McCorkle,  Esq.,  of  Salisbury, 
and  Matthew  Locke  McCorkle,  Esq.,  of  Newton,  are 
grandsons    of    Francis    and    Betsy    McCorkle.      The 


250  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN   COUNTY 

Brandons  came  originally  from  England,  and  the 
Lockes  from  the  North  of  Ireland. 

As  General  Washington  approached  Salisbury,  on 
the  Concord  Road,  some  half-mile  from  town,  and 
at  a  point  near  where  Mr.  Samuel  Harrison  now  lives, 
he  was  met  by  a  company  of  the  boys  of  Salisbury. 
Each  of  these  boys  had  a  bucktail  in  his  hat — a  symbol 
of  independence,  and  their  appearance  was  quite  neat 
and  attractive.  The  President  expressed  himself  much 
pleased  by  the  boys*  turnout,  saying  that  it  was  "the 
nicest  thing  he  had  seen." 

The  illustrious  visitor  was  of  course  the  guest  of 
the  town,  and  lodging  was  provided  for  him  at  Capt. 
Edward  Yarboro's  residence.  This  house  is  still 
standing,  on  East  Main  Street,  a  few  doors  east  of 
the  Public  Square,  and  nearly  opposite  the  entrance  of 
Meroney's  Hall.  The  house  is  now  marked  by  a  set 
of  semi-circular  stone  steps.  Many  have  supposed 
that  Washington  stood  on  those  steps  and  addressed 
the  people.  It  is  almost  a  pity  that  this  is  not  the 
truth,  but  the  fact  is  that  those  stone  steps  were  placed 
there  since  1830,  by  Sam  Jones,  who  kept  a  hotel  there. 
But  the  President  did  occupy  that  house  for  a 
night,  and  he  did  stand  on  steps  where  those  semi- 
lunar steps  now  stand.  And  as  he  stood  there  the 
people  from  all  the  country  around  stood  packed  and 
crowded  in  the  street,  gazing  with  reverence  and  ad- 
miration at  the  soldier  and  patriot  who  was  ''first  in 
the  hearts  of  his  countrymen.'*  x\nd  as  the  people 
gazed  the  President  stood  bareheaded,  while  the  after- 
noon sun  illumined  his  hoary  locks.     And  this  was 


WASHINGTON  S  VISIT  TO  SALISBURY  25 1 

what  he  said :  "My  friends,  you  see  before  you  noth- 
ing but  an  old,  gray-headed  man/'  Lifting  his  hand, 
with  his  handkerchief  he  shielded  his  head  from 
the  rays  of  the  sun,  in  silence.  That  night  there  was  a 
grand  ball  given  to  the  President  at  Hughes'  Hotel,  at- 
tended by  the  prominent  gentlemen  and  ladies  of  Salis- 
bury and  vicinity — Maxwell  Chambers  and  his  wife, 
Spruce  Macay,  Esq.,  Adlai  Osborne,  Esq.,  Capt.  John 
Beard,  Edward  Chambers,  Joseph  Chambers,  Lewis 
Beard,  Hugh  Horah,  Edward  Yarboro,  Miss  Mary 
Faust,  Mrs.  Kelly  (nee  Frohock),  Mrs.  Lewis  Beard, 
Mrs.  Giles,  Mrs.  Torrence,  and  many  others  whose 
names  are  no  longer  preserved  in  a  vanishing  tradition. 
There  is  still  in  the  county  a  relic  of  this  ball — a  brown 
satin  dress,  worn  by  Mrs.  Lewis  Beard — the  daughter 
of  John  Dunn,  Esq.  It  is  in  the  possession  of  Mrs. 
Mary  Locke,  granddaughter  of  Col.  Moses  A.  Locke, 
and  great-granddaughter  of  the  lady  who  wore  it. 
How  far  the  "Father  of  His  Country"  participated  in 
the  amusements  and  festivities  of  the  occasion,  tradi- 
tion saith  not.  It  was  probably  a  mere  occasion  for  a 
reception  on  his  part,  and  we  may  well  imagine  that 
the  "old,  gray-headed  man,"  as  he  claimed  to  be,  hus- 
banded his  strength  by  retiring  early,  and  thus  secur- 
ing the  rest  needful  to  fit  him  for  his  next  day's  jour- 
ney to  Salem.  Captain  Beard  and  his  Company  of 
"Rowan  Light  Horse"  escorted  the  Presidential  party 
as  far  as  Salem. 

As  the  reader  has  incidently  learned  the  names  of  a 
few  of  the  citizens  of  Salisbury  one  hundred  years 
ago,  it  will  probably  be  of  some  interest,  especially  to 


252  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

those  of  antiquarian  tastes,  to  have  a  Hst  of  the  princi- 
pal householders  of  our  city  in  those  early  days. 
Fortunately  the  mayor  of  the  city,  Capt.  John  A. 
Ramsay,  has  succeeded  in  securing  a  number  of  the 
old  records  of  the  ''Borough  of  Salisbury,"  the  earhest 
dating  back  as  far  as  1787.  On  the  twelfth  of  ]March 
of  that  year,  Messrs.  Maxwell  Chambers,  ^lichael 
Troy,  John  Steele,  and  John  Blake  were  duly  qualified 
as  town  commissioners,  and  Matthew  Troy  as  Justice 
of  police.  James  McEwen  was  elected  clerk,  and 
Thomas  Anderson,  constable.  The  records  are  quite 
fragmentary,  those  of  several  years  being  lost.  In 
1793,  the  commissioners  adopted  several  ordinances. 
One  ordinance  forbade  the  citizens  to  allow  their  hogs 
or  goats  to  run  at  large  in  the  streets,  and  any  person 
was  allowed  to  kill  any  hog  or  goat  so  found,  and  the 
owner  sustained  the  loss.  Another  ordinance  forbade 
the  keeping  of  any  hay,  oats,  straw,  or  fodder  in  dwell- 
ing-houses. Another  ordinance  required  each  house- 
holder to  keep  on  hand,  for  use  at  fires,  a  number  of 
leather  water  buckets,  holding  not  less  than  two  gal- 
lons each.  And  in  this  connection  we  have  the  first 
list  of  householders  of  Salisbury,  graded  according  to 
the  number  of  buckets  they  were  supposed  to  be  justly 
required  to  furnish.  As  the  Chinese  mandarin  is 
graded  by  the  number  of  buttons,  and  the  Turkish 
pasha  by  the  number  of  ''tails"  he  wore  on  his  cap,  so 
the  Salisbury  citizen  was  graded  by  the  buckets  he  was 
required  to  keep  on  hand.  Richmond  Pearson  was  ex- 
pected to  keep  four,  and  Dr.  x\nthony  Xewnan  three. 
The  following  were  rated  at  two  each,  viz. :     Richard 


Washington's  visit  to  Salisbury  253 

Trotter,  Joseph  Hughes,  Conrad  Brem,  Tobias  Forrie, 
Michael  Troy,  Andrew  Betz,  John  Patton,  Lewis 
Beard,  Henry  Giles,  Edward  Yarboro,  David 
Cowan,  Albert  Torrence,  Charles  Hunt,  \Mlliam 
Alexander,  Maxwell  Chambers,  M.  Stokes,  John 
Steele,  \\'illiam  Nesbit,  Peter  Fults,  and  Michael 
Brown.  The  following  householders  were  let  off  with 
one  bucket  each,  viz. :  Henry  Barrett,  Robert  Gay, 
Matthew  Doniven,  Richard  Dickson,  Daniel  Cress, 
George  Lowman,  John  Mull,  Hugh  Horah,  George 
Houver,  Charles  \\^ood.  Fed.  Allemong,  David 
Miller,  Mr.  Stork,  George  Moore,  John  Beard,  Mrs. 
Beard  (widow),  Leonard  Grosser,  Martin  Basinger, 
Peter  Faust,  John  Blake,  Henry  Young,  John  Whith, 
George  Kinder,  Jacob  Utzman,  Barna  Cryder,  Wil- 
liam Hampton,  Samuel  Dayton,  and  Charles  Shrote. 
It  seems  that  at  a  subsequent  meeting  of  the  com- 
missioners, iMr.  Pearson  at  his  own  request  was  re- 
duced to  the  grade  of  two  buckets,  and  Dr.  Newnan, 
Peter  Fults,  and  Evan  Alexander  to  the  grade  of  one 
bucket.  These  commissioners  enacted  stringent  laws 
against  "Bullet  Playing" — whatever  that  was — horse 
racing,  and  retailing  liquors  on  the  streets.  The  taxes 
for  1793  were  four  shillings  (50c.)  on  every  hundred 
pounds  ($250.00)  value  of  town  property,  and  four 
shillings  (50c.)  on  every  white  poll  that  did  not  hold 
one  hundred  pounds  (£100)  value  of  town  property. 
It  was  certainly  not  much  of  a  privilege  to  be  a  poor 
man  in  Salisbury,  in  those  days. 


254  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN    COUNTY 

According  to  the  above  list  there  were  fifty  house- 
holders in  Salisbury  in  1793.  It  has  been  usual  to 
estimate  an  average  of  five  inhabitants  to  each  family. 
This  would  make  a  population  of  two  hundred  and 
fifty.  But  besides  these  white  families,  there  were  a 
few  families  of  free  negroes  as  well  as  the  household 
servants  in  the  various  wealthier  families.  There  were 
also  a  number  of  ordinaries,  or  village  inns,  in  the 
borough,  with  their  attendants  and  boarders.  From 
these  sources  we  may  suppose  there  might  be  counted 
probably  one  hundred  and  fifty  or  two  hundred  more, 
making  a  total  population  of  four  hundred,  or  four 
hundred  and  fifty,  in  Salisbury  at  the  close  of  the  last 
century. 

About  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  in  1782, 
the  records  of  the  Inferior  Court  show  the  following 
Hcensed  ordinary  keepers  in  Salisbury,  viz. :  David 
Woodson,  Valentine  Beard,  Archibald  Kerr,  Gasper 
Kinder,  William  Brandon,  and  Joseph  Hughes.  In 
those  days  the  Inferior  Courts  fixed  the  tavern  rates. 
The  following  are  the  rates  for  1782:  For  a  half-pint 
of  rum  IS.  4d;  do.  of  whiskey  8d;  do.  of  brandy  is.; 
one  quart  of  beer  8d;  for  breakfast  is.;  for  dinner 
IS.  6d;  for  supper  is;  for  a  quart  of  corn  2d;  for  hay 
or  blades  per  day  for  a  horse  is;  for  lodging  per  night 
6d.  A  shilling  was  I2>4  cents.  According  to  these 
rates,  a  dinner,  supper,  breakfast,  and  lodging,  not  in- 
cluding any  spirits  or  horse  feed,  would  amount  to  the 
sum  of  fifty  cents.    And,  speaking  of  money,  we  notice 


Washington's  visit  to  Salisbury  255 

that  the  commissioners  begin,  about  1799,  to  speak 
about  dollars  and  fourths  of  a  dollar,  instead  of  pounds, 
shillings,  and  pence,  indicating  the  substitution  of  the 
Federal  currency  for  the  sterling.  About  this  time  an 
ordinance  was  adopted  disallowing  sheep  to  run  at 
large  in  Salisbury  between  eight  in  the  evening  and 
sunrise  in  the  morning.  The  same  year  an  "order" 
is  directed  to  be  published  in  The  Mercury^  thus  in- 
dicating that  a  paper  of  that  name  was  published  in 
town.  The  location  and  the  size  of  a  market-house 
engaged  the  attention  of  the  commissioners  for  several 
years.  At  different  times  it  was  ordered  to  be  built  on 
three  different  sides  of  the  courthouse.  In  1803  it  was 
ordered  to  be  erected  on  Corban  Street  southwest  of 
the  courthouse,  between  the  courthouse  and  the  next 
cross  street ;  to  be  thirty-two  feet  wide,  and  to  be  set  on 
eight  or  more  brick  pillars.  In  1805  the  commissioners 
resolved  to  issue  forty-two  pounds  and  ten  shillings 
(£42/10)  in  bills  of  credit,  and  employed  Francis 
Coupee  to  print  the  bills.  In  1806  they  required  every 
dog  to  be  registered,  and  allowing  every  family  to  keep 
one  dog  free  of  tax  laid  a  tax  of  one  dollar  on  each 
surplus  dog.  Provided  a  dog  should  become  mis- 
chievous, the  magistrate  of  police  was  to  issue  a  war- 
rant against  him,  and  the  constable  was  to  kill  him. 
None  of  these  laws,  however,  were  to  apply  to  dogs 
"commonly  called  foists  or  lap  dogs." 

In    181 1    the   following  citizens   were   divided   into 
classes  for  the  purpose  of  patrolling  the  town : 


256  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

1.  Samuel  S.  Savage,  captain;  Peter  Brown,  John 
Murphy,  Ezra  Allemong,  James  Huie,  John  Trisebre, 
Jacob  Smothers,  and  WilHam  Hinly. 

2.  George  Miller,  captain ;  John  Utzman,  John 
Wood,  John  Smith,  John  Bruner,  Christian  Tarr,  and 
Horace  B.  Satterwhite. 

3.  Moses  A.  Locke,  captain ;  John  Paris,  Henry 
Crider,  Abner  Caldwell,  William  Moore,  George 
Rufty,  and  Henry  Poole. 

4.  Jacob  Crider,  captain ;  Joseph  Chambers,  Peter 
Bettz,  Edwin  J.  Osborne,  Hugh  Horah,  Archibald 
Ruffin,  and  Samuel  Lemly. 

5.  John  Smith  (hatter),  captain;  Lewis  Utzman, 
George  Utzman,  Robert  Blackwell,  Epps  Holland, 
Benjamin  Tores,  and  Peter  Crider. 

6.  Henry  Sleighter,  captain ;  Jacob  Utzman,  Daniel 
Jacobs,  Abraham  Brown,  Andrew  Kerr,  Epps  Robi- 
son,  William  Horah. 

7.  Robert  Torrence,  captain ;  Alexander  Graham, 
Michael  Brown,  Horace  B.  Prewit,  George  Goodman, 
James  \Mlson,  Robert  Wood. 

8.  William  Hampton,  captain;  John  Albright, 
Willie  Yarboro,  Jacob  Stirewalt,  John  L.  Henderson, 
John  Fulton,  and  William  C.  Love. 

9.  WilHam  H.  Brandon,  captain;  Benjamin  Pear- 
son, Michael  Swink,  Francis  Marshall,  Joshua  Gay, 
Abraham  Earnhart,  John  Giles. 

10.  Daniel  Cress,  captain;  Abraham  Jacobs,  Peter 
Coddle,  George  Bettz,  William  Dickson,  David  Nes- 
bit,  Stephen  L.   Ferrand. 


WASHINGTON  S    VISIT    TO    SALISBURY  257 

11.  Thomas  L.  Cowan,  captain;  Joseph  Weant, 
James  Gillespie,  William  Pinkston,  Francis  Coupee, 
William  Rowe,  and  William  Davenport. 

12.  Francis  Todd,  captain ;  Thomas  Reeves,  Jere- 
miah Brown,  Henry  Ollendorf,  Henry  Allemong, 
George  Vogler,  and  Charles  Biles. 

These  were  the  able-bodied  men  of  Salisbury  in 
181 1 — sixty-nine  years  ago. 


I 


CHAPTER  XXI 


FAMILIES     LIVIXG    OX    THE    YADKIX     RIVER    OXE     HUX- 
DRED    YEARS    AGO 

Amid  the  ever-shifting  scenes  of  domestic  and  social 
life,  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  get  a  picture  of  any  one 
neighborhood.  During  the  period  of  current  life, 
events  are  regarded  as  of  so  little  importance,  and  they 
are  so  numerous  and  crowded,  that  nobody  takes  the 
time  and  trouble  to  make  a  record  of  passing  events. 
But  when  a  generation  or  two  has  gone  by,  and  chil- 
dren or  grandchildren  would  love  to  know  the  history 
of  their  ancestors,  only  fragments  remain.  Xow  and 
then  a  curious  chronicler  arises,  and  by  searching  into 
records  in  family  Bibles,  old  wills  and  deeds,  and  by 
the  aid  of  some  survivor  of  past  generations  stranded 
on  the  shores  of  time,  succeeds  in  sketching  an  out- 
line of  the  old  days.  But  the  picture  can  never  be 
complete,  and  seldom  absolutely  accurate.  With  such 
aids  as  these,  the  author  of  these  pages  proposes  to 
give  a  running  sketch  of  the  people  who  lived  in  a  part 
of  Rowan  County  at  the  close  of  the  last  century. 

About  six  miles  northeast  of  Salisbury,  where 
Grant's  Creek  pours  its  yellow  waters  into  the  Yadkin, 
there  was  a  large  farm  and  spacious  dwelling,  owned 
by  Alexander  Long,  Esq.  Somewhere  about  1756, 
there  appeared  in  Rowan  County  a  man  who  is  desig- 


26o  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN   COUNTY 

nated  in  a  deed,  dated  October  7,  1757,  as  John  Long, 
gentleman.  He  purchased  a  tract  of  land — six  hundred 
and  twenty  acres — on  the  ridge  between  Grant's  Creek 
and  Crane  Creek,  adjoining  the  township  land.  In 
1758  he  received  a  title  from  the  Earl  of  Granville 
for  six  hundred  and  eight  acres  on  the  "Draughts  of 
Grant's  Creek."  Also  six  hundred  and  forty  acres  on 
Crane  Creek,  adjoining  his  own.  Also  six  hundred 
and  four  acres  on  Second  Creek ;  besides  some  town 
lots  in  Salisbury — altogether  between  twenty-five 
hundred  and  three  thousand  acres  of  land.  Accord- 
ing to  records  on  minutes  of  the  Inferior  Court  for 
1756,  p.  400,  John  Long  had  some  transactions  with 
William  and  Joseph  Long,  of  Lancaster  County,  Pa. — 
perhaps  brothers,  or  other  relatives  of  his.  According 
to  deeds  and  letters  of  administration,  his  wife's  name 
was  Hester.  These  were  the  parents  of  Alexander 
Long,  Esq.,  of  Yadkin.  In  the  year  1760,  the  Chero- 
kee Indians  were  on  the  warpath,  and  Col.  Hugh  Wad- 
dell  was  stationed  with  a  regiment  of  infantry,  at  the 
new  village  of  Salisbury,  for  the  protection  of  the 
western  settlements.  Tradition  says  that  John  Long 
was  killed  by  the  Indians  in  an  expedition  against  a 
settlement  of  them  in  Turkey  Cove,  on  North  Fork  of 
the  Catawba  River,  not  far  from  Pleasant  Gardens. 
The  records  of  the  Inferior  Court  of  1760,  p.  293,  have 
this  entry:  L^pon  motion  of  ]\Ir.  Dunn,  ordered  that 
Hester  Long,  relict  of  John  Long,  deceased,  have  ad- 
ministration of  the  estate  of  her  late  husband,  John 
Long  [and  that]  Martin  Pipher,  John  Howard,  and 
Thomas      Parker      be      bound      in      six      hundred 


OLD    FAMILIES    ON    THE    YADKIN  261 

pounds  (i6oo).  She  took  the  oath  of  admin- 
istratrix." Tradition  states  that  Hester  Long 
afterwards  married  George  Magoune,  by  whom  she 
was  the  mother  of  a  daughter  who  became  the  wife  of 
Maxwell  Chambers.  The  Court  records  for  April, 
^I^Z,  P-  461,  have  this  entry:  "William  Long  vs. 
George  Magoune  et  uxor.,  administrator  of  John 
Long."  Alexander  Long,  probably  the  only  child 
of  John  Long,  was  born  January  i6,  1758,  and  be- 
came heir  to  the  vast  area  of  fertile  lands  entered  and 
purchased  by  his  father.  When  he  became  of  age  he 
added  to  this  large  estate.  In  1783  he  purchased  a 
tract  on  both  sides  of  the  road  from  Salisbury  to 
Trading  Ford,  and  in  1784  he  entered  six  hundred 
and  sixty-five  acres  on  the  north  side  of  the  Yadkin 
River.  He  first  married  a  sister  of  Gov.  Montfort 
Stokes,  by  whom  he  had  one  daughter,  named  Eliza- 
beth, who  became  the  wife  of  Alexander  Frohock, 
Esq.,  who  was  the  sheriff  of  Rowan  County.  He  was 
married  a  second  time  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Chapman,  a 
lady  from  Virginia,  October  12,  1786.  Besides  his 
extensive  landed  estate,  Alexander  Long  was  the 
owner  of  a  hundred  or  more  slaves,  and  had  a  valuable 
ferry  over  the  Yadkin  at  the  mouth  of  Grant's  Creek, 
besides  valuable  fisheries  on  the  river.  In  those  days 
the  Yadkin  abounded  with  shad,  and  immense  quanti- 
ties were  caught  in  Mr.  Long's  fisheries.  He  had  a 
large  family  of  sons  and  daughters — John,  Alexander, 
William,  Richard,  James,  Nancy,  Maria,  Rebecca,  Har- 
riet, and  Caroline. 


262  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN    COUNTY 

The  second  son,  Dr.  Alexander  Long,  late  of  Salis- 
bury, whose  memory  is  still  fresh  in  the  minds  of  our 
citizens,  spent  the  larger  part  of  his  Hfe  in  Salisbury. 
He  was  for  many  years  the  leading  physician  in  the 
county,  and  his  practice  was  very  extensive.  He  mar- 
ried Miss  ]\Iary  Williams,  of  Hillsboro.  At  the  or- 
ganization of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Salisbury, 
Dr.  Long  became  one  of  its  original  members,  and  one 
of  its  first  ruling  elders.  He  continued  to  be  an  elder 
until  his  death  in  1877,  in  the  eighty-ninth  year  of  his 
age.  Maria  Long,  daughter  of  Alexander  Long,  Esq., 
became  the  wife  of  the  late  ^Michael  Brown,  of  Salis- 
bury, so  long  a  prominent  merchant  and  ruling  elder  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church.  The  houses  of  Dr.  Long  and 
Michael  Brown  were  for  many  years  the  abodes  of  a 
bountiful  hospitality.  ^Ministers  and  agents  for  reli- 
gious objects  always  found  there  a  cordial  welcome 
and  a  generous  entertainment.  Harriet,  another  daugh- 
ter of  Alexander  Long,  was  married  to  the  late  George 
Brown,  for  a  long  period  a  leading  merchant  of  Salis- 
bury. Rebecca  Long  married  Capt.  Edward  Yarboro. 
The  others  were  all  well  known,  and  exerted  an  in- 
fluence in  their  day.  In  the  large  family  of  Alexander 
Long,  Sr.,  we  have  an  element  of  Rowan  society  as  it 
existed  at  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  and  beginning  of 
the  nineteenth  century.  The  family  burying-ground 
of  the  Longs  was  on  a  high  bluff  near  the  river  bank,  a 
short  distance  below  the  ferry. 

2.  The  next  plantation  on  the  Yadkin,  and  just  be- 
low the  Long  place,  was  originally  called  the  ''Stroup 
Place,"  and  in  late  vears,  the  ''Bridge  Place."     It  was 


OLD    FAMILIES    ON    THE    YADKIN  263 

owned  in  those  early  days  by  Lewis  Beard,  son  of  John 
Lewis  Beard,  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  Salisbury. 
Some  misunderstanding  having  arisen  between  Mr. 
Long  and  Mr.  Beard  concerning  the  right  of  the  latter 
to  keep  a  ferry  on  his  lands,  Mr.  Beard  secured  from 
the  Legislature  the  right  to  build  a  bridge  over  the 
river  on  his  own  lands.  He  therefore  secured  as  an 
architect,  Ithiel  Towne,  and  erected  a  magnificent 
bridge,  at  a  cost  of  thirty  thousand  dollars.  For  many 
years  this  bridge  stood  there,  and  spanned  the  stream, 
affording  passage  at  all  heights  of  the  river.  It  was 
known  in  later  years  as  'Xocke's  Bridge."  Its  piers 
may  still  be  seen  rising  in  their  ruins  above  the  waters, 
from  the  railroad  bridge  a  half-mile  below. 

Lewis  Beard  married  Susan,  the  daughter  of  John 
Dunn,  Esq.,  of  Salisbury.  Of  their  children,  Mary 
married  Major  Moses  A.  Locke,  for  many  years 
president  of  the  bank  in  Salisbury.  The  grandchil- 
dren of  Major  Locke  still  reside  at  the  Bridge  place, 
near  the  river.  Christine,  another  daughter  of  Lewis 
Beard,  married  Charles  Fisher,  Esq.,  a  lawyer  of  Salis- 
bury. From  1818  until  his  death  in  1849,  for  nearly 
forty  years,  Charles  Fisher  was  a  leading  man  in 
Rowan  County  in  public  affairs,  serving  often  in  the 
State  Legislature,  and  several  times  in  the  United 
States  Congress.  His  son,  Col.  Charles  F.  Fisher, 
was  a  leading  man.  He  volunteered  at  the  beginning 
of  the  late  war,  and  fell  in  the  first  battle  of  Manassas, 
courageously  fighting  in  front  of  his  regiment.  An- 
other child  of  Lewis  and   Susan   Beard,   was  Major 


264  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN    COUNTY 

John  Beard,  who  died  about  five  years  ago  at  his  home 
in  Tallahassee,  Fla. 

3.  The  third  plantation  on  the  Yadkin,  going  down 
the  stream,  was  owned  by  Valentine  Beard.  It  was  af- 
terwards known  as  Cowan's  Ferry,  and  at  present  as 
Hedrick's  Ferry.  Valentine  Beard  was  a  Continental 
soldier  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  fought  at  the 
battles  of  the  Brandywine  and  Germantown,  and 
others,  under  General  Washington.  He  married 
Margaret  Marquedant.  of  Philadelphia,  and  at  the 
close  of  the  war  settled  at  this  place.  Valentine  Beard 
had  three  daughters.  Elizabeth  married  Benjamin 
Tores.  Maria  married  Dr.  Burns,  of  Philadelphia, 
who  was  a  sea  captain.  Dr.  Burns  settled  in  Salis- 
bury about  1819,  and  remained  a  few  years,  when  he 
returned  to  Philadelphia.  Dr.  Burns'  daughter,  ^lar- 
garetta,  married  the  late  Horace  Beard  of  Salisbury, 
and  their  descendants  still  reside  here. 

Next  below  the  place  last  named  was  one  called  the 
"Island  Ford"  place,  including  the  island  of  one  hun- 
dred acres  lying  above  Trading  Ford.  This  island  is 
probably  the  one  that  is  called  the  ''Island  of  Aken- 
atzy,"  in  the  journal  of  Lederer's  explorations,  as 
found  in  Hawks'  History  of  North  Carolina.  This 
place  belonged  to  Lewis  Beard,  who  owned  the  bridge 
above. 

4.  The  next  place,  still  going  down,  was  the  prop- 
erty of  Capt.  Edward  Yarboro,  of  Salisbury.  The 
house,  occupied  by  tenants  or  overseers,  stood  just 
back  of  where  St.  John's  mill  now  stands.  Captain 
Yarboro  lived  in  Salisbury,  and  had  three  daughters 


OLD    FAMILIES    OX    THE    YADKIX  265 

and  two  sons.  Sally  Yarboro  was  the  second  wife 
of  William  C.  Love,  and  the  mother  of  \Mlliam  and 
Julius  Love.  She  and  her  husband  he  buried  just  in 
the  rear  of  ^leroney's  Hall.  Nancy  Yarboro  mar- 
ried Colonel  Beatty,  of  Yorkville,  S.  C,  and  Mary 
married  Richard  Long.  Edward  Yarboro,  Jr.,  was  the 
owner  of  the  Yarboro  House  in  Raleigh,  and  gave  his 
name  to  it. 

5.  Just  below  Trading  Ford,  on  a  high  bluff,  stood 
the  residence  of  Albert  Torrence.  The  house  is  still 
conspicuous  from  afar,  and  has  been  named  of  late 
years  by  a  poetical  friend,  "The  Heights  of  Gowerie." 
It  was  from  these  heights  that  Lord  CornwaUis'  artil- 
lery cannonaded  General  Greene,  w^hile  writing  his 
dispatches  in  the  cabin  on  the  other  side  of  the  Yad- 
kin. Albert  Torrence,  an  Irishman,  chose  this  airy 
situation  for  his  residence,  and  from  the  edge  of  the 
bluff  he  could  watch  the  windings  of  the  silver  stream, 
dotted  with  a  cluster  of  beautiful  islets,  and  beyond 
could  see  lying  the  fertile  farms  of  the  famed  Jersey 
Settlement.  Albert  Torrence  married  Elizabeth 
Hackett,  of  Row^an  County.  In  this  family  there  grew 
up  four  sons  and  one  daughter.  Hugh  the  eldest  son 
married  a  Miss  Simonton,  of  Statesville,  and  died 
early.  Albert  married  a  daughter  of  Judge  Toomer, 
of  Fayetteville,  and  settled  in  that  city.  James  died 
young.  Charles  married  first  ^liss  Elizabeth  L.  Hays, 
of  Rowan  County,  and  after  her  death,  ]\Iiss  Philadel- 
phia Fox,  of  Charlotte.  His  residence  was  southeast 
of  Charlotte,  on  the  Providence  Road,  about  a  mile 
from   the    Public    Square.     The   daughter   of   Albert 


266  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

Torrence  married  William  E.  Powe,  of  Cheraw,  and 
settled  at  the  Bruner  place,  five  miles  east  of  Salis- 
bury, on  the  Chambers'  Ferry  Road,  where  they  reared 
a  large  family  of  sons  and  daughters,  only  two  of 
whom  remain  in  Rowan — Dr.  Albert  Torrence  Powe, 
and  his  sister,  Mrs.  Hackett,  who  reside  at  the  family 
homestead.  At  the  organization  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  Salisbury,  Albert  Torrence  became  a  mem- 
ber, and  one  of  the  first  bench  of  elders.  His  re- 
mains, with  those  of  his  wife  and  several  of  their 
children,  and  of  Air.  Powe,  are  sleeping  in  the  En- 
glish graveyard  in  Salisbury,  under  broad  marble 
slabs,  near  the  entrance.  Albert  Torrence  died  in 
1825,  aged  seventy-two  years. 

6.  Next  to  the  Torrence  place  was  the  farm  of 
Gen.  John  Steele,  of  Salisbury.  General  Steele  was 
the  son  of  W^illiam  and  Elizabeth  Steele,  and  was  one 
of  the  most  distinguished  native-born  citizens  of  Salis- 
bury. His  mother's  maiden  name  was  Elizabeth  Max- 
well, and  she  was  a  native  of  \\^est  Rowan.  She  was 
first  married  to  Mr.  Gillespie,  by  whom  she  had  a  son 
and  daughter,  as  mentioned  on  a  former  page.  Her 
son,  John  Steele,  was  born  in  Salisbury,  November  i, 
1764,  and  was  educated  in  the  schools  of  the  town. 
He  commenced  life  as  a  merchant,  but  soon  turned 
his  attention  to  farming,  in  which  he  was  eminently 
successful.  In  1787  he  became  a  member  of  the  Leg- 
islature of  North  Carolina.  In  1790  he  was  a  member 
of  the  first  Congress  of  the  United  States  under  the 
Constitution.  He  was  appointed  by  General  W^ash- 
ington,    first    Comptroller    of    the    Treasury    of    the 


Gex.  John   Steelk 


riRST  CO.MPTROEEF.R-GEXERAL  OF   THE   CTRREXCV 
UNDER    WASHINGTON 


(From  Miniature  by  Peale) 


OLD    FAMILIES    ON    THE.    YADKIN  267 

United  States,  which  office  he  held  until  1802,  when 
he  resigned,  though  solicited  by  ]\Ir.  Jefferson  to  con- 
tinue. He  occupied  many  other  prominent  stations, 
and  filled  them  all  with  faithfulness  and  success.  On 
the  day  of  his  death — August  14,  181 5 — he  was 
elected  to  the  House  of  Commons  of  North  Carolina. 
A  singular  story  is  told  of  a  circumstance  that  oc- 
curred at  his  death.  During  the  time  he  was  comp- 
troller he  presented  to  his  native  town  a  clock — the 
one  now  on  the  courthouse — and  a  bell.  The  night  of 
General  Steele's  death,  the  clock  commenced  striking, 
and  continued  to  strike  many  hundreds  of  times,  until 
it  was  run  down.  Hugh  Horah,  a  watchmaker,  had 
the  clock  in  charge,  but  he  could  do  nothing  with  it. 
It  was  doubtless,  all  things  considered,  a  singular  co- 
incidence, and  calculated  to  beget  a  superstitious  awe 
in  the  minds  of  the  people.  In  1783,  John  Steele  mar- 
ried Mary  Nesfield,  of  Fayetteville.  Three  daughters 
lived  to  grow  up  and  marry.  Ann  married  Gen. 
Jesse  A.  Pearson.  ]\Iargaret  married  Dr.  Stephen 
L.  Ferrand,  and  was  the  mother  of  Mary,  the  wife  of 
the  late  Archibald  Henderson,  Esq. ;  and  Ann,  who 
married  the  late  John  B.  Lord,  Esq.,  afterwards  the 
late  Rev.  John  Haywood  Parker,  and  lastly  T.  G. 
Haughton,  Esq. 

Eliza,  daughter  of  Gen.  John  Steele,  married  Col. 
Robert  MacNamara,  a  native  of  Ireland,  but  for  a 
time  a  prominent  citizen  of  Salisbury.  Colonel  Mac- 
Namara's  children  are  all  dead  except  Louise,  now  in 
a  convent,  and  Eliza,  who  married  Dr.  Lynch,  of  Co- 
lumbia, S.   C.     General   Steele  erected  the  house  oc- 


268  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

cupied  by  the  late  Archibald  Henderson,  Esq.  There 
he  died,  at  the  age  of  fifty,  and  near  his  residence  he 
was  laid  to  his  rest,  where  a  memorial  stone,  con- 
secrated by  conjugal  and  filial  affection,  testifies  to  his 
character  "as  an  enlightened  statesman,  a  vigilant  pa- 
triot, and  an  accomplished  gentleman."  General  Steele's 
wife  survived  him  for  many  years.  Salisbury  has 
special  reason  to  be  proud  of  the  exalted  character 
and  faithful  services  of  her  honored  son.  Second  to 
a  sense  of  duty,  there  is  probably  no  higher  incentive 
to  the  faithful  discharge  of  public  trusts  than  the 
hope  of  transmitting  an  honored  name  to  posterity; 
but  if  posterity  forgets  their  honored  ancestors,  then 
neither  the  dread  of  shame  nor  love  of  honor  is  left  to 
inspire  men  to  an  honorable  course  of  life. 


CHAPTER  XXII 


DISTINGUISHED   MEX    IX    ROWAN 

Before  leaving  this  part  of  the  History  of  Rowan 
County  it  is  necessary  that  the  reader  should  become 
acquainted  with  a  number  of  distinguished  men  who 
made  their  homes  in  Salisbury  for  a  longer  or  shorter 
time.  One  of  these  was  a  permanent  citizen ;  the 
others  tarried  here  for  a  season.  Among  these  we 
mention  first 

Waightstill  Avery,  Esq. 

The  University  of  Xorth  Carolina  Magazine  for 
1855  contains  a  sketch  of  'Mv.  Avery,  and  his  private 
Journal  for  1767;  and  Colonel  Wheeler's  Sketch  of 
Burke  County  contains  a  brief  biography,  from  which 
we  condense  the  following  account. 

Waightstill  iVvery  was  of  Puritan  stock,  and  was 
born  in  Norwich,  Conn.  He  completed  his  literary 
studies  at  Princeton  College,  in  1776.  Erom  this  place 
he  went  to  ^Maryland,  and  studied  law  under  Littleton 
Dennis,  Esq.  It  is  stated  that  he  was  tutor  for  a  year 
in  Princeton.  This  was  probably  his  last  year  as  a 
student,  and  he  was  doing  double  duty,  and  at  the 
same  time  was  reading  law,  for  we  find  him  in  the  be- 
ginning of  1767  setting  out  for  X'orth  Carolina.  His 
journal  shows  that  he  was  a  diligent  student  of  his- 


270  HISTORY   OF   ROWAX    COUNTY 

tory  and  law  after  he  began  his  course  as  a  lawyer 
here. 

On  the  fifth  of  February,  1767,  he  rode  into  Eden- 
ton,  X.  C.  On  the  third  of  March  he  reached  Salis- 
bury, and  made  the  acquaintance  of  Associate  Judge 
Richard  Henderson,  Samuel  Spencer,  Esq. — after- 
wards Judge  Spencer,  John  Dunn,  Esq.,  Alexander 
Martin^  Esq. — afterwards  Governor  ]\Iartin,  Wil- 
liam. Hooper,  Esq.,  Major  Williams,  and  Edmund 
Fanning,  Esq.  Colonel  Frohock  entertained  him  at 
his  plantation  two  miles  from  Salisbury,  and  Avery 
describes  his  house  as  ''the  most  elegant  and  large 
within  one  hundred  miles."  On  the  first  Sunday 
after  his  arrival  he  ''heard  the  Rev.  'Mr.  Tate  preach." 
After  going  to  Hillsboro  he  journeyed  to  Wilmington, 
and  thence  to  Brunswick,  where  he  obtained  from 
Governor  Tryon  license  to  practice  law  in  this  Prov- 
ince. From  Brunswick  he  passed  by  Cross  Creek, 
and  thence  to  Anson  Courthouse.  Anson  Courthouse 
was  not  then  at  \\^adesboro.  but  at  a  place  called 
IMount  Pleasant,  about  a  mile  west  of  the  Pee  Dee 
River,  and  a  short  distance  below  the  Grassy  Islands. 
Here  Avery  took  the  attorney's  oath,  April  13,  1767, 
and  the  next  day  began  his  work  by  opening  a  cause 
against  a  hog  thief.  From  ]\Iount  Pleasant  he  went 
to  ^lecklenburg,  met  Adlai  Osborne,  Esq.,  and  on 
Sunday,  April  23,  heard  Rev.  Joseph  Alexander 
preach — probably  at  Sugar  Creek.  Here  he  engaged 
board  with  Hezekiah  Alexander.  On  the  fourth  of 
May  we  find  him  again  in  Salisbury,  where  he  en- 
gaged a  year's  board  with  ]\Ir.  Troy  at  twenty  pounds 


DISTINGUISHED    MEN    IX    ROWAN  2/1 

(£20)  a  year,  deducting  for  absences.  On  the  six- 
teenth of  ^lay  "he  rode  out  five  miles  to  Dunn's 
Alountain,  in  order  to  enjoy  an  extensive  prospect  of 
the  country."  At  the  August  term  of  Rowan  Court 
he  was  employed  in  no  less  than  thirty  actions. 
Again  in  November  he  was  in  Salisbury,  and  was 
chosen  King's  Attorney,  in  the  absence  of  Major 
Dunn.  During  this  year  Mr.  Avery  practised  law  at 
Salisbury.  Anson  Courthouse,  Charlotte,  and  Tryon 
Courthouse,  and  at  once  obtained  a  large  number  of 
cHents.  In  1775  and  1776  he  was  a  member  of  the 
Provincial  Congress,  and  was  appointed  on  the  com- 
mittee to  revise  the  statutes  of  the  Province.  In  1778 
he  was  made  Attorney-General  of  the  State,  and 
shortly  thereafter  he  married  and  moved  to  Jones 
County.  But  finding  that  his  health  was  impaired  by 
the  climate  of  the  eastern  country,  in  1781  he  removed 
to  Burke  County,  and  settled  on  a  beautiful  and  fer- 
tile estate  on  the  Catawba  River,  known  by  the  name 
of  Swan  Pond,  afterwards  the  home  of  his  son.  Col. 
Isaac  T.  Avery. 

Waightstill  Avery  devoted  himself  to  his  profes- 
sion, but  was  chosen  to  represent  Burke  County  in  the 
Legislature  a  number  of  times.  He  was  industrious 
and  methodical,  and  he  was  the  owner  of  the  most  ex- 
tensive and  best  selected  library  in  Western  North 
Carolina.  "He  died  in  182 1  in  the  enjoyment  of  an 
ample  estate,  the  patriarch  of  the  North  Carolina  Bar, 
an  exemplary  Christian,  a  pure  patriot,  and  an  honest 
man." 


272  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

In  1778,  Mr.  Avery  married  ^Nlrs.  Franks,  a  widow 
lady  of  Jones  County,  near  Xewbern,  by  whom  he  had 
three  daughters  and  one  son.  The  son,  Col.  Isaac  T. 
Avery,  occupied  the  paternal  estate  at  Swan  Pond, 
and  reared  a  large  family  there,  among  whom  were 
the  late  Col.  A\'aightstill  \\\  Avery,  Col.  ^Moulton 
Avery,  and  Judge  Alphonso  C.  Avery,  now  on  the 
bench  of  North  Carolina.  These  all  deserved  well  of 
their  country,  but  their  history  belongs  to  Burke,  and 
not  to  Rowan  County. 

Hon.   Spruce  ^Macay 

As  early  as  the  year  1762  we  have  accounts  of  the 
Macay  family  in  Rowan  County.  In  that  year  James 
Macay  obtained  from  Henry  McCulloh  a  grant  of 
four  hundred  and  thirty  acres  of  land  on  Swearing 
Creek,  near  the  Jersey  Meeting-house.  This  was  part 
of  a  vast  body  of  land,  amounting  to  one  hundred 
thousand  acres,  which  George  11. ,  in  1745,  granted  to 
Henry  ]\IcCulloh,  Esq.,  of  Turnham  Green,  County 
of  Middlesex,  England.  These  lands  are  described 
as  situated  in  the  Province  of  North  Carolina,  lying 
on  the  "Yadkin  or  Pee  Dee  River  or  branches 
thereof,"  and  called  Tract  No.  9.  This  tract  lay  in 
Earl  Granville's  division  of  land,  but  the  Earl  and 
his  agents  recognized  McCulloh's  title,  and  the  fact  is 
recited  at  large  in  many  old  grants.  On  this  tract 
James  Macay  settled  and  reared  his  family. 

In  1775,  William  Frohock  executed  a  deed  to  James 
Macay,  Esq.,  Benjamin  Rounceville,  and  Herman 
Butner,  trustees  of  the  United   Congregation  of  the 


DISTINGUISHED    MEN    IN    ROWAN  273 

Jersey  Meeting-house,  consisting  of  the  professors  of 
the  Church  of  England,  the  Church  of  Scotland,  and 
the  Baptists,  for  three  acres  and  twenty  poles  of  land, 
including  the  meeting-house  and  the  burying-ground. 
The  witnesses  to  the  deed  are  James  Smith  and  Peter 
Hedrick,  and  the  land  was  part  of  a  tract  devised  by 
John  Frohock  to  his  brother,  William  Frohock. 
Though  the  meeting-house  had  been  standing  since 
1755,  it  appears  that  they  had  no  legal  title  until  the 
above  date.  If  we  may  judge  from  the  order  of  the 
names,  compared  with  the  order  of  denominations,  we 
would  conclude  that  Macay  represented  the  Episco- 
palians, Rounceville  the  Presbyterians,  and  Butner 
the  Baptists. 

Spruce  Macay  was  probably  a  son  of  James  Macay. 
At  all  events  he  was  from  that  neighborhood,  and  was 
buried  there,  with  others  of  his  family.  At  that  early 
period,  the  Rev.  David  Caldwell,  D.  D.,  was  conducting 
his  classical  school,  on  Buffalo,  in  Guilford  County — 
then  a  part  of  Rowan,  about  forty  miles  from  the  Jer- 
seys. Thither  young  Spruce  Macay  was  sent  for  his 
literary  training.  He  probably  read  law  under  John 
Dunn,  Esq.,  of  Salisbury,  or  it  may  be  Waightstill 
Avery,  who  practised  in  these  Courts.  He  was  licensed 
to  practice  law  about  the  beginning  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary War,  and  devoted  himself  with  energy  to  his 
profession,  and  soon  became  such  a  proficient  that 
students  came  to  him  for  instruction.  In  1776,  Wil- 
liam R.  Davie,  just  graduated  at  Princeton  College, 
commenced  the  study  of  law  in  Salisbury,  and  the 
current    opinion    is    that    his    preceptor    was    Spruce 


274  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN   COUNTY 

Alacay.  His  residence  was  on  lot  Xo.  19,  of  the  West 
\\^ard,  the  property  now  owned  by  ^Irs.  Nathaniel 
Boyden,  and  his  law  office  was  in  front  of  his  dwelling 
on  Jackson  Street.  In  1784,  Mr.  Macay  had  another 
pupil,  who  was  in  after  years  honored  with  the  highest 
office  in  the  United  States.  This  was  Andrew  Jack- 
son. Parton,  in  his  Life  of  Jackson  says :  ''At  Salis- 
bury, he  (Jackson)  entered  the  law  office  of  ]\Ir. 
Spruce  ]\Iacay,  an  eminent  lawyer  at  that  time,  and, 
in  later  years,  a  judge  of  high  distinction,  who  is  still 
remembered  with  honor  in  North  Carolina."  In  1790, 
Spruce  Macay  was  appointed  Judge  of  the  Superior 
Courts  of  law  and  equity. 

By  his  marriage  he  became  connected  with  a  family 
distinguished  as  lawyers  and  judges  in  North  Caro- 
lina. He  married  Fanny,  the  daughter  of  that  emi- 
nent jurist  of  Colonial  times  Judge  Richard  Henderson, 
and  sister  of  the  Hon.  Archibald  Henderson  of  Salis- 
bury, and  Judge  Leonard  Henderson  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  North  Carolina.  By  this  marriage  Judge 
Macay  had  one  child,  a  daughter  named  Elizabeth, 
who  married  the  Hon.  William  C.  Love,  of  Salisbury, 
and  was  the  mother  of  the  late  Robert  E.  Love,  Esq., 
of  Salisbury.  After  the  death  of  his  first  wife, 
Judge  Macay  married  Elizabeth  Hays,  of  Halifax, 
N.  C,  by  whom  he  had  three  children — Alfred  ]\Iacay, 
who  died  early,  in  Salisbury ;  Fanny,  who  married 
George  Locke,  son  of  Richard  Locke,  and  moved  to 
Tennessee ;  and  William  Spruce  Macay,  who  first 
married  ]\Iiss  Belle  Lowry,  daughter  of  Richard 
Lowry,   Esq.,   of   Rowan;   and  after   her   death   ]\Iiss 


DISTINXUISHED    MEX    IX    ROWAX 


75 


Annie  Hunt,  daughter  of  Aleshack  Hunt,  Esq.,  of 
Yadkin  County,  and  granddaughter  of  Hon.  Aleshack 
Franklin.  The  only  daughter  of  this  union,  Annie, 
died  recently,  and  with  her  death  the  family  became 
extinct  in  this  county. 

Judge  :\Iacay  bought  the  Frohock  lands  and  mills, 
near  Salisbury,  on  Grant's  Creek,  and  owned  lands  in 
Davidson  County.  By  inheritance  with  his  wife,  by 
industry  and  economy,  he  accumulated  a  large  estate. 
He  died  in  1808,  and  his  remains  lie  interred  in  the 
graveyard  of  Jersey  fleeting  -  house,  in  Davidson 
County,  by  the  side  of  his  kindred. 

Gen.  \\'illiam  Richardsox  Davie 

Another  distinguished  gentleman  who  resided  for  a 
season  in  Salisbury  was  William  Richardson  Davie, 
afterwards  Governor  of  the  State  of  North  Carolina. 
General  Davie  was  born  at  Egremont,  England,  but 
came  to  America  at  five  years  of  age,  and  was  adopted 
by  his  maternal  uncle,  the  Rev.  William  Richardson, 
the  Presbyterian  pastor  of  the  W^axhaw  and  Provi- 
dence Churches.  Davie  was  graduated  at  Princeton 
College  in  1776,  and  the  same  year  commenced  the 
study  of  law  in  Salisbury— it  is  believed  under  the  di- 
rection of  Spruce  Alacay,  Esq.  In  1779  he  raised  a 
Company  of  cavalry,  principally  in  the  ''Waxhaws," 
of  which  he  was  lieutenant.  After  the  battle  of  Stopo. 
where  he  was  wounded,  he  returned  to  Salisbury  and 
resumed  his  studies.  In  1780,  Davie  raised  a  Com- 
pany of  horse  in  Rowan  County,  which  he  led  in  the 
battle  of  the  Hanging  Rock,  and  with  which  he  con- 


276  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN    COUNTY 

fronted  the  British  in  their  northward  march  at  Char- 
lotte, where  he  and  his  "Rowan  Boys"  made  a  bril- 
Hant  display  of  courage.  He  was  with  General 
Greene  at  Guilford  Courthouse,  Hobkirk's  Hill,  and 
Ninety-Six.  After  the  war  he  began  his  professional 
career,  as  a  brilliant  and  powerful  orator  and  states- 
man. He  was  on  the  committee  that  fixed  the  location 
of  the  University  of  North  Carolina.  The  gigantic 
poplar  tree  is  still  standing  in  the  University  Campus, 
under  which  General  Davie  was  resting  when  his 
negro  servant  reported  that  he  had  found  a  fine  spring 
near  by,  and  lots  of  mint  growing  by  its  side,  and  that 
he  thought  that  was  the  very  place  for  the  college.  As 
Grand  ]\Iaster  of  the  Masonic  Fraternity,  in  October, 
1793,  General  Davie  laid  the  cornerstone  of  the  col- 
lege, while  Dr.  Samuel  E.  McCorkle,  of  Rowan,  made 
the  address.  In  1798,  Davie  was  elected  Governor  of 
North  Carolina,  and  the  succeeding  year  was  ap- 
pointed ambassador  to  France.  It  is  said  that  he 
was  introduced  to  Napoleon  as  General  Davie,  and 
that  the  haughty  emperor  sneeringly  remarked  in  an 
audible  aside,  ''Oiii,  Generale  de  melish."  His  mis- 
sion to  France  was  the  close  of  his  public  Hfe.  On 
his  return  he  brought  certain  articles  of  costly  furni- 
ture, and  fitted  up  his  residence  in  handsome  style. 
Being  a  candidate  for  office  shortly  after,  his  opponent 
taunted  him  in  public  with  aping  the  aristocracy  of 
the  old  world,  and  so  excited  the  prejudices  of  the 
people  as  to  defeat  him.  He  became  disgusted  with 
politics,  and  retired  to  his  estate  of  Tivoli,  near  Lands- 
ford,  S.  C,  where  he  died  in  1820.     He  was  regarded 


GKN.    AXDKEW    JACKSON'    AT    THL-,  AGE   Or    lUTY 


DISTINGUISHED    MEN    IN    ROWAN  2^"] 

as  the  most  polished  and  graceful  orator  in  North 
Carolina,  in  his  day.  Had  he  not  quit  public  life  at 
the  early  age  of  forty-seven,  he  might  have  shone  as  a 
star  of  the  first  magnitude  along  with  Jefferson,  Madi- 
son, ]\Ionroe,  John  O.  Adams,  Burr,  and  Crawford. 
But  such  is  public  life,  where  the  demagogue  often 
supplants  the  patriot  and  the  statesman. 

Andrew  Jackson 

Foremost  among  the  distinguished  men  who 
resided  for  a  season  in  Salisbury  was  Andrew  Jack- 
son. The  reader,  acquainted  with  his  public  career  as 
a  soldier  and  a  statesman,  will  not  object  to  a  brief 
account  of  his  early  life,  and  especially  of  his  sojourn 
in  Salisbury.  In  1765^  Andrew  Jackson,  with  his  wife, 
two  sons,  and  three  neighbors — John,  Robert,  and 
Joseph  Crawford — emigrated  from  Carrickfargus,  Ire- 
land, to  America,  and  settled  in  the  "Waxhaws,"  on  the 
boundary  between  North  and  South  Carolina.  While 
some  of  the  company  settled  in  South  Carolina,  Jack- 
son settled  on  Twelve  Mile  Creek,  in  Mecklenburg 
(now  Union)  County,  N.  C.  In  the  spring  of 
1757,  Andrew  Jackson  died,  and  in  a  rude  farm 
wagon  his  body  was  carried  to  the  Waxhaw  Church 
and  deposited  in  the  graveyard.  The  family  did  not 
return  to  their  home  on  Twelve  Mile  Creek,  but  went 
to  the  house  of  George  McKemie,  a  brother-in-law, 
not  far  from  the  church,  and  a  quarter-mile  from 
the  boundary  of  the  States,  but  in  North  Carolina. 
There  Andrew  Jackson,  the  younger,  was  born,  the 
night    after   his    father's    funeral,    March    15,    1767. 


278  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

Evidence  for  all  this,  most  conclusive  and  convincing, 
was  collected  by  Gen.  Samuel  H.  Walkup,  of  Union 
County,  in  1858,  and  may  be  found  in  the  first  volume 
of  Parton's  Life  of  Jackson.  Three  weeks  after  his 
birth,  his  mother  removed  with  the  family  to  the  resi- 
dence of  her  brother-in-law,  ]\Ir.  Crawford,  in  South 
Carolina.  Here  Andrew  grew  up,  wild,  reckless, 
daring,  working  on  the  farm,  riding  horses,  hunting, 
going  to  old-field  schools,  and  picking  up  a  little  edu- 
cation here  and  there.  He  also  attended  a  school  of 
a  higher  grade  at  Waxhaw  Church,  kept  by  Rev.  Dr. 
Humphries,  and  he  claimed  to  have  attended  the 
Queen's  Museum  College,  in  Charlotte,  X.  C.  In  these 
schools  he  acquired  the  rudiments  of  an  English  edu- 
cation, and  perhaps  "a  little  Latin  and  less  Greek." 
Though  only  fifteen  years  old  at  the  close  of  the  Revo- 
lution, young  Andrew  Jackson  took  part  in  several 
skirmishes  and  other  adventures  in  his  neighborhood. 
At  the  close  of  the  war  he  was  an  orphan,  without 
brother  or  sister — without  fortune — a  sick  and  sor- 
rowful orphan.  After  a  year  or  two  of  a  reckless 
career,  he  began  to  look  at  life  in  earnest,  and  prepare 
for  it.  He  taught  school  for  a  while,  and  gaining  a 
little  money  he  came  to  Salisbury  in  1785,  and  entered 
as  a  law  student  in  the  office  of  Spruce  IMacay,  Esq. 
He  lodged  in  the  "Rowan  House,"  but  he  studied  in 
the  office  of  Air.  Alacay,  along  v.-ith  two  fellow-stu- 
dents— Crawford  and  McXairy.  The  reader  may  re- 
member this  little  office  on  Jackson  Street,  as  it  stood 
until  four  years  ago,  immediately  in  front  of  the 
residence   of   the   Hon.    Nathaniel    Boyden.      Parton 


DISTINGUISHED    MEN    IN    ROWAN  279 

•describes  it  as  "a  little  box  of  a  house  fifteen  by  sixteen 
feet,  and  one  story  high,"  and  built  of  "shingles,"  i.  e., 
a  framed  and  weatherboarded  house,    covered    with 
shingles.    This  little  house  was  purchased  by  an  enter- 
prising individual  and  carried  to  Philadelphia  to  the 
Centennial    Exposition,    in    1876,    as    a    speculation, 
though  it  proved  to  be  a  very  poor  investment.   While 
Jackson  certainly  devoted  a  good  part  of  his  time  to 
study,  yet  he  was  no  doubt,  as  Parton  describes  him, 
"a   roaring,    rollicking    fellow,    overflowing   with    life 
and  spirits,  and  rejoicing  to  engage  in  all  the  fun  that 
was   going."      He   played    cards,    fought    cocks,    ran 
horses,  threw  the  'long  bullet'   (cannon  ball,  slung  in 
a  strap,  and  thrown  as  a  trial  of  strength),  carried  off 
gates,  moved  outhouses  to  remote  fields,    and    occa- 
sionally indulged  in  a  downright  drunken  debauch." 
Upon  a  certain  occasion  the  three  law  students  and 
their  friends  held  a  banquet  at  the  tavern.     At  the 
conclusion  it  was  resolved  that  it  would  be  improper 
that  the  glasses  and  decanters  that  had  promoted  the 
happiness  of  such  an  evening  should  ever  be  profaned 
by  any  baser  use.     Accordingly  they  were  smashed. 
The  same  reasoning  led  to  the  destruction  of  the  table. 
The  chairs  and  the  bed  were  all  broken  and  torn  to 
splinters    and    ribbons,    and    the    combustible    parts 
heaped  on  the  fire  and  burned.     Of  course  there  was 
a  big  bill  to  settle  next  day.     But  it  is  said  that  Jack- 
son's landlord  was  fond  of  cards,  and    that    Jackson 
won  large  sums  from  him,  which    were    entered    as 
credits  against  his  board  bill.     Jackson  was  certainly 
not  a  model  young  man,  and  not  one  in  ten  thousand! 


28o  HISTORY   OF   ROWAX    COUNTY 

young  men  who  begin  life  as  he  did  ever  attain  to  dis- 
tinction. But  there  was  in  him  indomitable  will,  tireless 
energy,  and  unflinching  courage.  He  was  always  willing 
to  "take  the  responsibility,"  and  he  moved  on  to  his 
aims  with  a  purpose  that  could  not  be  turned  aside. 
After  spending  less  than  two  years  in  the  office  of 
Spruce  Macay,  Jackson  completed  his  studies  for  the 
bar  in  the  office  of  Col.  John  Stokes,  a  brave  soldier  of 
the  Revolution.  After  this  he  lived  a  while  at  ]\Iartins- 
ville,  Guilford  County,  and  from  that  place  he  re- 
moved to  Tennessee,  in  1788,  and  settled  in  Nashville. 
The  reader  may  follow  his  course  in  the  legal  pro- 
fession, in  the  Indian  wars,  in  the  battle  of  New 
Orleans,  in  the  Presidential  chair,  by  perusing  the 
racy  and  readable  volumes  that  record  his  life,  by 
James  Parton;  but  these  sketches  of  him  must  close 
at  this  point. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 


OLD  FAMILIES  OF  ROWAN 

While  the  territory  now  comprehended  in  Rowan 
County  was  a  part  of  Anson  County,  or  further  back 
still,  while  it  was  a  part  of  Bladen  County,  there  were 
settlers  in  this  region.  It  was  in  1745  that  Henry 
McCuUoh  obtained  his  grant  of  one  hundred  thousand 
acres  of  land  on  the  Yadkin  and  its  tributaries.  This 
was  probably  about  the  beginning  of  the  settlement. 
The  deeds  and  grants  between  this  date  and  1753,  if 
recorded,  would  be  registered  in  these  counties. 
Hence  it  is  not  always  possible  to  determine  the  date 
of  the  settlement  of  a  family  by  the  date  of  its  oldest 
deed,  since  the  oldest  deeds  may  have  been  registered 
elsewhere.  But  among  the  earliest  grants  registered 
here  are  those  of  the 

Brandon  Family 

This  family  came  to  Rowan  from  Pennsylvania,  but 
they  were  originally  from  England,  where  for  many 
centuries  the  Brandons  played  a  conspicuous  part  in 
public  affairs,  as  every  reader  of  English  history 
knows. 

Upon  coming  to  Rowan  County  they  settled  in  three 
different  neighborhoods.  In  1752,  John  Brandon 
obtained  a  grant  of  six  hundred  and  thirty  acres  of 


282  HISTORY   OF   ROW  AX   COUXTY 

land  from  Earl  Granville  upon  the  waters  of  Grant's 
Creek.  In  the  same  year  Richard  Brandon  obtained 
a  grant  of  four  hundred  and  eighty  acres  on  the  South 
Fork  of  Grant's  Creek.  In  1755,  John  Brandon  pur- 
chased from  Carter  &  Foster,  Lot  Xo.  4,  in  the  South 
Square  of  Salisbury,  adjoining  the  Common,  and  near 
the  courthouse — near  where  the  stocks  and  pillory 
then  stood.  This  was  near  what  was  known  as  Cowan's 
Corner,  now  Hedrick's  Block.  It  is  not  certain 
whether  the  above-named  John  and  Richard  Brandon 
were  brothers,  or  father  and  son,  or  more  distant 
relations. 

Another  member  of  the  family,  William  Brandon, 
said  by  tradition  to  be  the  youngest  son,  purchased 
from  James  Cathey,  in  1752,  a  tract  containing  six 
hundred  and  forty  acres  on  Sill's  Creek,  beyond 
Thyatira  Church — then  Cathey's  Meeting-house.  He 
also  procured  a  grant  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  acres 
adjoining  the  meeting-house  lands  and  between  the 
lands  of  John  Sill  and  James  Cathey.  William 
Brandon  married  a  ]\Iiss  Cathey.  He  was  perhaps 
a  brother  of  John  Brandon  of  Grant's  Creek. 

Another  branch  of  the  Brandon  family  settled  on 
the  north  side  of  Fourth  Creek.  Here  James  Brandon, 
in  1760  and  1762,  obtained  grants  from  Granville  and 
deed  from  Patrick  Campbell  for  one  thousand  five 
hundred  and  ninety-two  acres  of  land.  Among  the 
Brandons  of  Fourth  Creek  there  was  one  George 
Brandon  whose  will,  dated  1772.  names  the  following 
persons,  to  wit:  His  wife  ^larian,  his  sons  John, 
George,  Christopher,  and  Abraham  (the  latter  residing 


OLD    FAMILIES   OF    ROWAN  283 

at  Renshaw's  Ford  on  South  River),  and  his 
daughters  Jane  Silver,  jMary  McGuire,  EHnor 
Brandon,  and  Sidney  Witherow.  Of  these  families 
the  writer  has  no  knowledge. 

\\'ith  regard  to  the  Brandons  of  Grant's  Creek,  we 
have  more  definite  historical  and  traditional  knowl- 
edge. 

John  Brandon  appears  among  the  Justices  who  pre- 
sided over  our  County  Courts  in  the  year  1753,  along 
with  \\^alter  Carruth,  Alexander  Cathey,  Alexander 
Osborne,  John  Brevard,  and  others.  We  would  infer 
from  this  fact  that  he  was  somewhat  advanced  in  life, 
and  of  prominence  in  his  neighborhood  and  the  county. 
When  the  Rev.  Hugh  ]\IcAden  passed  through  Rowan, 
he  stopped  a  night  with  Mr.  Brandon,  whom  he  styles 
"His  Own  Countryman,"  that  is  from  Pennsylvania, 
where  McAden  was  born.  From  a  deed  dated  1753, 
we  learn  that  John  Brandon's  wife's  name  was  Eliza- 
beth. 

John  Brandon  had  three  sons,  namely :  Richard, 
William,  and  John.  Richard  Brandon  married  Mar- 
garet Locke,  the  sister  of  Gen.  Matthew  Locke.  The 
children  of  Richard  Brandon  and  Margaret  Locke 
were  John  Brandon,  Matthew  Brandon,  and  Eliza- 
beth Brandon.  The  latter  is  the  fair  maiden  who 
furnished  the  breakfast  for  General  Washington,  and 
who  married  Francis  McCorkle,  Esq.  John  and 
Matthew  Brandon  resided  in  the  same  neighborhood. 

Col.  John  Brandon,  brother  of  Matthew,  and  son 
of  Richard  named  above,  resided  about  five  miles 
southwest     of     Salisbury,    on    the     Concord     Road. 


284  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

Among  his  children  was  the  late  well-known  Col. 
Alexander  W.  Brandon,  who  resided  in  Salisbury,  and 
died  here  about  the  year  1853.  Col.  Alexander  W. 
Brandon  never  married.  While  in  Salisbury  he  boarded 
with  his  nephew,  James  Cowan,  in  the  old  historic 
"Rowan  House,"  where  General  Jackson  once  boarded 
(the  house  now  owned  by  Theodore  F.  Kluttz,  imme- 
diately opposite  the  Boyden  House).  Colonel  Bran- 
don possessed  a  considerable  estate,  was  a  general 
trader,  a  dealer  in  money,  notes,  and  stocks.  By  his 
will  be  provided  that  his  body  should  be  laid  in 
Thyatira  churchyard  among  his  kindred,  and  left 
four  hundred  dollars  to  the  elders  of  the  church,  as 
trustees,  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  the  graveyard  in 
repair.  He  also  bequeathed  three  thousand  dollars  to 
Davidson  College  for  the  education  of  candidates  for 
the  ministry,  besides  legacies  to  his  nephews,  Thomas 
Cowan,  James  L.  Cowan,  James  L.  Brandon,  Leonidas 
Brandon,  Jerome  B.  Brandon,  George  Locke;  and  to 
his  brother,  John  L.  Brandon.  Colonel  Brandon  was 
an  upright,  steady,  moral  man,  of  fine  appearance  and 
dignified  demeanor. 

Besides  Alexander  W.  Brandon,  John  Brandon  left 
a  son  named  John  L.  Brandon,  and  two  daughters. 
One  of  the  daughters,  named  Sally,  was  married  to 
James  Locke,  son  of  Gen.  Matthew  Locke,  and  after 
his  death  was  married  to  a  ^Ir.  Dinkins,  of  Mecklen- 
burg. The  other  daughter,  named  Lucretia,  was  the 
first  wife  of  Abel  Cowan,  Esq.,  of  Thyatira. 

To  return  a  generation  or  two,  we  find  that  Richard 
Brandon  had  another  son,  besides  Col.  John  Brandon, 


OLD   FAMILIES   OF   ROWAN  285 

whose  name  was  Matthew.  This  Matthew  Brandon 
was  the  father  of  two  daughters.  One  of  these 
daughters,  named  EHzabeth,  became  the  wife  of  Gen. 
Paul  Barringer,  of  Cabarrus,  and  the  mother  of  the 
late  Hon.  D.  M.  Barringer,  Gen.  Rufus  Barringer, 
Rev.  William  Barringer,  Victor  C.  Barringer,  Mrs. 
Wm.  C.  Means,  Airs.  Andrew  Grier,  Mrs.  Dr.  Charles 
W.  Harris,  and  Mrs.  Edwin  R.  Harris.  All  these  were 
well-known  and  honored  citizens  of  Cabarrus  and 
Mecklenburg  Counties. 

The  other  daughter  of  Matthew  Brandon,  named 
Elvira,  became  the  wife  of  the  Rev.  James  Davidson 
Hall,  then  pastor  of  Thyatira  Church,  and  left  no 
children. 

Not  far  from  Thyatira  Church,  many  years  ago, 
there  lived  two  brothers  named  John  Brandon  and 
James  Brandon.  They  were  the  sons  of  William 
Brandon,  who  settled  there  as  early  as  1752.  Wm. 
Brandon's  first  wife  was  a  Cathey,  the  mother  of  John 
and  James.  After  her  death  he  married  a  Widow 
Troy,  of  Salisbury,  and  moved  to  Kentucky.  From 
William  Brandon  and  his  second  wife  there  descended 
in  the  second  generation  a  family  of  Davises.  Two 
ladies  of  this  name,  granddaughters  of  William 
Brandon,  lived  for  a  while  in  Salisbury  with  Miss 
Catherine  Troy,  afterwards  Mrs.  Maxwell  Chambers. 
One  of  these  young  ladies  married  George  Gibson, 
and  moved  to  Tennessee.  The  other  died  in  Salis- 
bury, after  a  short  residence  here. 

John  Brandon,  the  son  of  William  Brandon,  of 
Thyatira,    married    Mary,    the    daughter    of    Major 


286  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

John  Dunn,  of  Salisbury.  This  couple  died  childless. 
Their  residence  was  on  the  west  side  of  Cathey's 
Creek,  a  mile  from  Thyatira  Church.  The  place  was 
known  of  late  years  as  the  residence  of  Dr.  Samuel 
Kerr,  and  still  later  as  the  home  of  our  fellow-citizen, 
James  S.  McCubbins,  Esq.  The  other  son  of  William 
Brandon,  known  as  Col.  James  Brandon,  married 
Esther  Horah,  sister  of  Hugh  Horah,  and  aunt  of  the 
late  William  H.  Horah.  He  resided  near  Thyatira 
Church  in  his  early  married  life.  After  the  Revolu- 
tionary War  he  was  ''entry-taker,"  and  lost  nearly  all 
his  property  by  the  depreciation  of  continental  money 
in  his  hands.  In  his  latter  days  he  lived  in  what  is  now 
Franklin  Township,  where  William  R.  Fraley  now 
resides.  Col.  James  Brandon  died  about  1820,  and 
left  a  number  of  children. 

1.  Among  these  was  a  son  named  \Mlliam 
Brandon,  who  was  a  merchant  in  Salisbury,  and  kept 
his  store  about  the  place  now  occupied  by  Enniss'  drug 
store.  He  never  married,  and  died  young,  about  the 
same  time  that  his  father  died. 

2.  Priscilla  Brandon  married  William  Gibson,  and 
their  children  were  Dr.  Edmund  R.  Gibson,  late  of 
Concord,  James  Brandon  Gibson,  now  an  elder  of 
Thyatira,  George  Gibson,  who  moved  to  Tennessee, 
now  dead,  and  Mrs.  Margaret  G.  Smith,  now  living 
with  James  G.  Gibson. 

3.  ]\Iargaret,  who  never  married,  and  died  about 
1828. 

4.  Clarissa  Harlowe,  who  married  Thomas  Kin- 
caid.     These  were  the  parents  of    ]\Irs.    ]\Iary    Ann 


OLD    FAMILIES   OF    ROWAN  287 

Bruner,  [Mrs.  Jane  E.  Fraley,  and  William  Mortimer 
Kincaid,  Esq. 

5.  Sophia  Gardner,  who  never  married,  and  died 
in  1846. 

6.  Alary,  who  married  William  Hampton  of 
Rowan.  Their  children  were  Xancy  Reed,  the  wife 
of  Hon.  Philo  White ;  Margaret  Gardner,  wife  of 
Montfort  S.  AIcKenzie,  Esq. ;  Alary  Ann,  wife  of  John 
C.  Palmer,  of  Raleigh;  and  James,  who  died  young. 

7.  Elizabeth,  who  married  Francis  Gibson.  Their 
children  were  Clarissa,  the  wife  of  Benjamin  Julian, 
of  Salisbury;  Esther,  the  wife  of  Jesse  P.  Wiseman, 
Esq. ;  and  Emmeline,  the  wife  of  Rufus  Alorrison. 

Of  the  Brandons  it  may  be  remarked  that  they  were 
a  thriving,  industrious,  and  prosperous  family  in  their 
day,  devoting  their  chief  attention  to  agriculture  and 
local  affairs.  Some  of  them  wore  the  military  titles 
of  the  day,  and  were  doubtless  leaders  of  public 
opinion  in  their  neighborhoods,  resembhng  the  Eng- 
lish country  squires,  who  took  deeper  interest  in  the 
sports  and  institutions  of  the  country  than  in  national 
affairs.  Though  the  Brandons  did  not  generally  aspire 
to  legislative  and  judicial  honors,  yet  some  of  them 
were  elevated  by  their  fellow-citizens  to  places  of  trust 
and  dignity.  Alatthew  Brandon,  son  of  Richard,  and 
brother  of  the  second  John,  represented  Rowan 
County  four  times  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and 
once  in  the  Senate,  of  North  Carolina.  Col.  Alexander 
W.  Brandon  was  once  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Commons. 


288  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN    COUNTY 

Though  they  were  generally  men  of  substance  they 
did  not  seem  to  desire  for  their  sons  a  college  educa- 
tion, preferring  that  they  should  walk  in  the  peaceful 
avocations  of  an  independent  farmer's  life.  But  they 
were  a  race  possessed  of  intellectual  force,  and  many 
of  the  scions  of  this  house  have  achieved  success  as 
scholars,  as  lawyers,  legislators,  and  divines.  These 
branches  of  the  family  are  scattered  over  many 
counties  of  North  Carolina,  though  the  historic  name 
of  Brandon  has  almost  disappeared  from  the  land  of 
their  forefathers. 

John  Phifer  and  George  Savitz 

On  the  headwaters  of  Grant's  Creek,  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  present  village  of  China  Grove, 
there  dwelt  in  the  early  times  two  families  very  closely 
connected.  About  1760,  John  Phifer,  with  five 
brothers,  came  from  Pennsylvania  and  settled  in 
Rowan  and  Cabarrus  (then  ]\Iecklenburg)  Counties. 
The  family  is  said  to  have  been  of  Swiss  origin,  and 
the  name  was  originally  written  Pfeiffer.  In  1763, 
John  Phifer  married  Catherine,  the  daughter  of  John 
Paul  Barringer,  and  sister  of  Gen.  Paul  Barringer,  late 
of  Cabarrus.  He  settled  about  a  mile  south  of  China 
Grove,  and  their  union  was  blessed  with  two  children 
— ]\Iargaret  and  Paul  B.  Phifer.  While  only  seven 
years  old,  little  IMargaret  Phifer  performed  a  deed  of 
heroism  worthy  of  commendation.  Some  ruffian 
Tories  and  British  soldiers  visited  her  home,  and  with 
lighted  torches  ascended  the  stairs  with  the  purpose 
of  setting  the  house  on  fire.     Little  ]\Iargaret  fell  on 


OLD    FAMILIES   OF    ROWAN  289 

her  knees  and,  throwing  her  arms  around  the  nearest 
of  the  marauders,  implored  him  to  spare  their  home. 
Their  hearts  were  melted  by  the  tender  pleading  of 
the  child,  and  they  withdrew  and  left  the  house  stand- 
ing. This  child,  growing  up,  became  the  wife  of  John 
Simianer,  of  Cabarrus  County,  and  the  mother  of  Mrs. 
Adolphus  L.  Erwin,  of  McDowell  County.  The  son, 
Paul  B.  Phifer,  married  and  died  early  in  life,  leaving 
two  sons,  both  of  whom  removed  to  the  Southwest. 
One  of  these  sons.  Gen.  John  N.  Phifer,  had  an  only 
son  who  was  graduated  at  the  University  of  North 
Carolina.  He  was  a  lieutenant  in  the  late  war  and  has 
been  widely  known  as  Brig.-Gen.  Charles  Phifer.  His 
father.  Gen.  John  N.  Phifer,  represented  Cabarrus 
County  in  the  Senate  of  North  CaroHna  in  1818. 

It  is  due  to  the  memory  of  Col.  John  Phifer,  the 
elder,  to  say  that  he  was  a  conspicuous  and  leading 
man  in  his  day,  and  acted  in  the  foreground  of  the 
great  movement  which  terminated  in  our  glorious  in- 
dependence. Though  originally  settling  in  Rowan 
County,  it  appears  that  he  had  such  interests  in 
Cabarrus  (then  Mecklenburg  County)  as  drew  him 
into  co-operation  with  the  patriots  of  Mecklenburg, 
and  his  name  is  found  appended  to  the  Mecklenburg 
Declaration  of  1775.  But  he  found  an  early  grave, 
passing  away  during  the  first  years  of  the  Revolution- 
ary War,  and  after  a  few  years,  his  widow  (Catherine, 
daughter  of  John  Paul  Barringer)  became  the  wife  of 
George  Savitz,  commonly  called  "Savage."  In  1768, 
Richard  Brandon  executed  a  deed  to  George  Savitz, 
for  a  tract  of  land  on  both  sides  of    Grant's    Creek, 


290  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN   COUNTY 

above  a  certain  mill  pond.  In  1778,  George  Savitz, 
Jr.,  and  his  wife  Catherine,  executed  a  deed  for  a  tract 
of  land  on  McCutcheon's  Creek,  a  branch  of  Cold- 
water,  and  by  purchasing  a  tract  here  and  there  the 
Savitzes  became  the  proprietors  of  a  large  body  of 
land  adjoining  the  Brandons  and  Lockes,  on  the  head 
streams  of  Grant's  Creek,  in  the  region  of  the  present 
village  of  China  Grove.  From  these  deeds  we  learn 
that  John  Phifer  had  died  before  1778,  for  at  that 
period  George  Savitz,  Jr.,  had  married  Katrina,  his 
widow,  that  is  Catherine,  the  daughter  of  John  Paul 
Barringer.  Here  George  Savitz  and  his  wife  lived,  in 
the  house  that  was  saved  from  the  torch  by  little 
Margaret  Phifer.  That  house  was  about  a  half-mile 
west  of  the  place  where  the  two  churches,  Lutheran 
Chapel  and  Mount  Zion,  now  stand.  The  old  church 
stood  near  the  graveyard,  west  of  the  railroad,  and 
was  popularly  known  as  Savage's  Church.  Here  the 
Lutherans  and  Gennan  Reformed  worshiped  to- 
gether. After  the  disruption  of  the  Lutheran  Church, 
in  1819,  the  adherents  of  Dr.  Henkel  built  a  church  a 
mile  west,  and  still  later  the  Lutherans  built  a  house 
where  the  Chapel  now  stands,  and  the  German  Re- 
formed where  Zion  Church  stands.  But  to  return. 
George  Savitz,  Jr.,  and  Catherine,  his  wife,  had  two 
daughters,  named  Mary  and  Catherine.  Alary  was 
first  married  to  Charles  McKenzie  (afterwards  she 
was  the  wife  of  Richard  Harris,  still  Hving).  Three 
children  were  born  to  this  couple — the  late  Montford 
S.   McKenzie,  Esq. ;  Maria,  who  became  the   second 


OLD    FAMILIES   OF    ROWAX  29I 

wife  of  Abel  Cowan ;  and  Margaret,  the  wife  of  the 
late  John  McRorie,  of  Salisbury. 

Catherine  Savitz,  the  other  daughter,  married  Xoah 
Partee,  Esq.,  and  resided  at  the  home  place.  Their 
children  were  Hiram  and  Charles  Partee,  who  moved 
to  the  West,  and  have  recently  died.  A  daughter  of 
Xoah  and  Catherine  Partee,  named  Elizabeth,  was 
married  to  the  late  George  McConnaughey,  of  Rowan. 
Another  daughter,  named  ]\Iaria,  married  the  late 
]\Iajor  Robert  W.  Foard,  of  Concord,  and  still  sur- 
vives. Still  another  daughter  was  married  to  the  late 
Robert  Huie,  of  ^Mississippi,  and  resides  in  Concord. 

The  Savitz  family  were  of  German  lineage,  and  with 
the  industry  and  prudence  characteristic  of  that  race 
they  amassed  a  large  amount  of  property.  They  were 
originally  adherents  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  though 
their  descendants  have  entered  different  churches — 
some  Presbyterians,  some  Methodists,  and  some  Epis- 
copalians. The  Brandons  on  the  other  hand,  though 
English,  and  having  an  affinity  for  the  Church  of 
England,  appear  as  a  general  rule  to  have  been 
Presbyterians.  One  or  more,  however,  of  the  family 
of  Richard  Brandon  were  adherents  of  the  Episcopal 
Church.  The  Brandons  of  Cathey's  Creek,  especially 
Col.  James  Brandon's  family,  were  earnest  Presby- 
terians. Thyatira  in  those  days  was  the  great  rallying 
point  of  the  Presbyterians.  In  the  earlier  years  of 
this  century  there  was  not  a  church  of  any  denomina- 
tion in  Salisbury.  The  old  Lutheran  Church  had 
gone   down,   and   the   Methodists,   Presbyterians,   and 


292  HISTORY  OF  ROWAX    COUNTY 

Episcopalians   had  not  yet  organized  their  churches. 
Thyatira  was  the  center  for  the  English  people. 

While  the  fertile  lands  lying  on  the  tributaries  of 
the  Yadkin  were  rapidly  taken  up  by  the  eager 
immigrants  from  Pennsylvania,  or  rather  by  the 
Scotch-Irish  and  Germans,  who  came  through  Pennsyl- 
vania to  CaroHna,  many  drifted  on  further,  attracted 
by  the  no  less  fertile  lands  of  the  beautiful  Catawba. 
Here  the  Davidsons,  Brevards,  Whites,  \\'inslows,  and 
others  gathered  in  the  neighborhood  of  Beattie's  Ford, 
and  on  both  sides  of  the  river.  This  region  was  peo- 
pled quite  early,  their  title  deeds  dating  from  1752  and 
onward.    Among  these  was 

The  Family  of  the  ]\IcCorkles 

A  member  of  this  family,  Francis  Marion  ^Ic- 
Corkle,  of  Tennessee,  has  gathered  up  the  traditions 
of  this  family,  and  his  manuscript  furnishes  the  basis 
of  this  article. 

There  lived  in  Scotland,  during  the  troubles  arising 
from  the  efforts  of  Charles  Edward,  the  Pretender,  to 
seize  the  throne,  a  family  of  McCorkles  that  sought  a 
safer  and  quieter  home  in  Ireland.  Here  the  parents 
died,  and  a  son  of  theirs,  named  Matthew  McCorkle, 
married  a  lady  by  the  name  of  Givens.  Ned  Givens, 
a  brother  of  Mrs.  McCorkle,  was  quite  a  character  in 
his  way.  At  the  age  of  fourteen  Xed  entered  the  army 
and  was  redeemed  by  his  father  at  great  cost.  He  soon 
re-enlisted  and  was  a  second  time  redeemed  by  his 
father  for  a  large  sum,  and  assured  that  if  he  repeated 
the  project  he  should  take  his  chances.     About  this 


OLD    FAMILIES    OF    ROWAN  293 

time  ^Matthew  McCorkle  and  his  wife  were  about  to 
remove  to  the  American  Colonies,  and  Ned,  not  yet 
tired  of  adventures,  proposed  to  go  with  them,  but  his 
father  refused  to  let  him  go.  \\'hen,  however,  Mc- 
Corkle arrived  at  the  port  from  which  he  was  to  sail, 
to  his  surprise  he  found  Ned  there  awaiting  his 
arrival,  and  determined  to  go.  His  persistence  was 
rewarded,  for  McCorkle  paid  his  passage,  and  the 
party  arrived  safely  in  Pennsylvania,  and  after  a  short 
stay  there  proceeded  to  North  Carolina  and  entered 
lands  near  Beattie's  Ford,  some  in  Mecklenburg,  and 
some  in  Rowan  (now  Iredell).  Here  Matthew  Mc- 
Corkle and  Ned  Givens  both  settled  down,  and  each 
of  them  raised  large  families,  and  here  they  ended 
their  days.  Givens  had  already  showed  that  he  had  a 
strong  will,  and  he  was  reputed  to  have  had  an  un- 
governable temper.  From  him  were  descended  some 
of  the  most  reputable  families  of  South  Iredell,  as  for 
instance  the  family  of  \\'hites. 

Matthew  McCorkle  had  two  sons,  Thomas  and 
Francis,  and  several  daughters.  One  of  these  sons, 
Francis,  married  Sarah  W^ork,  by  whom  he  had  five 
children.  As  his  family  increased  he  entered  more 
lands.  The  second  entry  was  on  the  west  side  of 
Catawba  River,  on  one  of  the  tributaries  of  Mountain 
Creek,  in  the  limits  of  the  present  County  of  Catawba. 
Here  he  started  a  farm,  planted  an  orchard,  and  by 
industry  and  skill  began  rapidly  to  accumulate  prop- 
erty. He  was  said  to  have  been  a  man  of  amiable  dis- 
position and  of  a  fine  personal  appearance  (of  florid 
complexion,  auburn  hair,  and  about  six  feet  in  height). 


294  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

When  the  Revolutionary  \A'ar  came  on  Francis  ]\Ic- 
Corkle  promptly  took  his  place  on  the  side  of  the 
patriots.  In  1774,  he  was  appointed  a  member  of  the 
Committee  of  Safety  of  Rowan,  along  with  John 
Brevard,  Matthew  Locke,  and  others.  (See  \\'heeler's 
Sketches,  Vol.  2,  page  360.)  Though  full  thirty  miles 
from  his  home,  he  is  recorded  as  present  in  Salisbury 
at  the  regular  meetings  of  the  committee,  and  is  named 
in  the  records  as  the  captain  of  a  Company.  He  was  in 
the  battles  of  King's  ]\Iountain,  Ramsour's  Mill,  Cow- 
pens,  and  Torrence's  Tavern.  His  patriotic  course 
excited  the  animosity  of  the  Tories,  and  he  was  in 
consequence  frequently  compelled  to  keep  away  from 
his  home  to  escape  their  vengeance.  A  morning  or 
two  before  the  battle  of  Ramsour's  ]\Iill,  Francis  ^Ic- 
Corkle  and  a  man  by  the  name  of  Smith  rode  out  be- 
fore day  to  learn  the  whereabouts  of  the  Tories,  know- 
ing that  they  were  in  the  neighborhood.  Arriving  at 
a  neighbor's  house  near  the  head  of  the  creek  about 
daylight,  they  inquired  of  the  lady  if  she  knew  where 
the  Tories  were.  She  replied  that  she  was  expecting 
them  every  moment.  Upon  this  the  party  wheeled  and 
rode  home  in  a  hurry  to  arrange  matters.  After  brief 
preparation  they  left  home,  and  were  scarcely  out  of 
sight  before  the  Tories  arrived,  and  searched  the  house 
from  garret  to  cellar  for  ]\IcCorkle.  They  found  there 
some  salt,  which  they  appeared  to  want,  and  left  word 
if  McCorkle  would  come  and  bring  them  some  salt  all 
would  be  well,  but  if  not  they  would  come  and  destroy 
everything  in  his  house.  Instead  of  joining  them, 
i\IcCorkle  and  Smith  hastened  to  the  patriotic  soldiers 


'jti/i^  £ ,i^.^i^^^/--^^i-^!'^^ 


OLD    FAMILIES   OF   ROWAN  295 

that  were  centering  at  Ramsour's  Mill,  and  were  in 
the  battle  there. 

The  tradition  of  the  McCorkle  family  is  that 
Colonel  Locke,  a  friend  of  Francis  McCorkle,  fell  in 
the  battle  of  Ramsour's  Mill.  Dr.  Foote  states  that  he 
was  killed  at  the  Kennedy  place,  near  Charlotte,  and 
Dr.  Caruthers  says  he  fell  at  Torrence's  Tavern.  Dr. 
Foote  is  evidently  mistaken,  for  it  was  Lieut.  George 
Locke,  a  brother  of  Colonel  Francis,  that  fell  at  Char- 
lotte. It  is  probable  also  that  the  McCorkle  tradition 
is  a  mistake,  since  Tarleton,  in  his  Memoirs,  accord- 
ing to  Caruthers,  preserves  a  letter  written  by  General 
Greene  to  Col.  Francis  Locke,  about  the  time  of  the 
affair  at  Cowan's  Ford,  dated  Beattie's  Ford,  January 
31,  1781.  But  the  battle  of  Ramsour's  Mill  was  fought 
on  the  twentieth  of  June,  1780,  seven  months  before 
this  time.  Besides,  there  is  no  record  of  any  adminis- 
tration upon  his  estate,  but  there  is  a  will  of  Francis 
Locke  on  file,  dated  1796,  with  the  known  signature  of 
Col.  Francis  Locke.  He  doubtless  survived  until 
this  date.  But  to  return.  After  the  battle  of  Ram- 
sour's Mill,  Smith  returned  and  reported  that  Mc- 
Corkle was  killed.  But  to  the  great  joy  of  the  family 
he  soon  rode  up  alive  and  unharmed.  He  then  ven- 
tured to  sleep  in  his  own  house  for  a  few  nights.  But 
about  the  third  night  he  was  suddenly  awakened  by 
the  sound  of  horses'  hoofs.  Hearino-  his  name  called 
he  answered,  and  was  told  to  get  up  and  come  to  the 
door.  He  requested  time  to  put  on  his  clothes,  but 
with  abusive  words  they  told  him  it  was  no  use,  as 
they  intended   to   kill   him.     They    then    asked    him 


296  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

"whom  he  was  for?"  He  replied  that  he  did  not  know 
whether  they  were  friends  or  foes,  but  if  he  had  to  die, 
he  would  die  with  the  truth  in  his  mouth — he  was  for 
Hberty.  He  was  then  told  to  put  on  his  clothes,  that 
they  had  more  of  his  sort,  and  they  would  slay  them 
all  together.  He  went  with  them,  but  when  he  arrived 
at  the  main  body,  he  was  agreeably  surprised  to  learn 
that  they  were  all  Whigs,  and  that  they  had  met  for  a 
jollification  after  the  battle  of  Ramsour's,  and  wished 
to  have  him  in  their  company. 

After  the  British  crossed  the  Catawba  at  Cowan's 
Ford,  McCorkle  made  a  narrow  escape.  He  was  in 
the  affair  at  Torrence's  Tavern,  with  his  friend  Smith, 
and  these  two  were  either  acting  as  a  kind  of  rear 
guard,  or  were  sent  back  to  reconnoiter,  but  before 
going  far  they  were  discovered  by  the  British,  and 
wheeling  attempted  to  rejoin  their  comrades.  Smith's 
horse  bolted  through  the  woods,  and  he  was  killed. 
The  enemy  pursued  McCorkle  until  he  came  up  to 
the  little  band  of  Whigs,  who  had  formed  in  Tor- 
rence's Lane.  The  little  party  fought  the  British 
troopers  under  Colonel  Tarleton,  until  the  smoke  be- 
came so  dense  that  they  could  not  tell  whether  they 
were  among  friends  or  enemies.  As  the  smoke  cleared 
off  a  little,  McCorkle  discovered  that  he  was  among 
the  redcoats,  and  putting  his  hands  on  a  stake-and- 
ridered  fence  he  leaped  through  just  as  three  or  four 
sabers  struck  the  rail  above  him.  They  all  retreated 
and  made  good  their  escape — none  being  killed  except 
Smith,  before  named.  Several  British  soldiers  were 
killed  and  buried  east  of  the  Featherston  House.    Mc- 


OLD    FAMILIES    OF   ROWAN  297 

Corkle  bore  the  title  of  Major,  whether  won  during 
the  war  or  after  the  war  in  the  mihtia  is  not  known. 
He  survived  all  the  dangers  of  the  war,  and  returned 
to  his  peaceful  home,  and  was  respected  and  esteemed 
by  his  neighbors.  His  wife  died  after  the  war,  and 
some  time  about  1794  or  1795  he  was  again  married. 
His  second  wife  was  Elizabeth  Brandon,  daughter  of 
Richard  Brandon,  and  niece  of  Matthew  Locke.  This 
was  the  lady  that  furnished  the  breakfast  to  General 
Washington  in  1791  as  he  passed  through  Rowan 
County.  By  his  first  marriage  to  Miss  Work,  Major 
McCorkle  had  two  sons,  Matthew  and  Alexander 
Work.  These  men  lived  on  Mountain  Creek,  but 
never  married.  Alexander  W.  McCorkle  was  a  man 
of  wealth  and  of  fine  judgment  and  business  talents. 
He  was  frequently  called  upon  to  advise  his  neigh- 
bors in  business  affairs,  and  to  aid  them  in  making 
deeds  and  conveyances. 

By  his  second  wife  (Elizabeth  Brandon),  Major 
McCorkle  had  several  children. 

I.  Wm.  B.  McCorkle,  who  was  a  merchant  in 
W^adesboro  for  about  forty  years.  This  son  married 
Mary,  the  daughter  of  \\'illiam  ^Marshall,  of  Anson 
County.  This  William  Marshall  and  his  father,  James 
Marshall,  and  his  son,  Clement  ^Marshall,  were  leading 
men  of  Anson  County,  and  represented  their  fellow- 
citizens  often  in  the  Legislature.  (See  Wheeler's  His- 
tory of  Anson.)  The  children  of  \Mlliam  B.  Mc- 
Corkle were :  James  Marshall  McCorkle,  Esq.,  of 
Salisbury;  Dr.  John  R.  McCorkle,  of  Mooresville; 
^^^iIliam   A.   ]\IcCorkle,   of   Jefferson   County,   Tenn. ; 


298  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

and    his     daughters,     Sarah,     ]\Iary,     Corneha,     and 
Caroline. 

2.  The  second  son  of  Francis  McCorkle  by  his 
second  wife  was  Francis  ]\IcCorkle,  who  lived  on 
Mountain  Creek,  and  married  Elizabeth  Abernathy. 
Their  children  were :  Matthew  Locke  ]\IcCorkle,  Esq., 
of  Newton;  Thomas,  David,  and  Fanny.  David  died 
during  the  war,  in  the  Confederate  army. 

3.  Another  son  was  named  Thomas,  who  moved  to 
Georgia. 

4.  Another  son  of  ]\Iaj.  Francis  ]\IcCorkle  was 
John  H.,  who  moved  to  Tennessee.  His  son,  Dr. 
Francis  Marion  McCorkle,  collected  the  principal  facts 
of  this  article. 

5.  A  daughter  named  Elizabeth  married  Jephtha 
Sherrill,  and  was  the  mother  of  Henderson  Sherrill, 
who  lived  in  Hickory  Nut  Gap  for  a  long  time.  He 
served  in  the  Legislature. 

6.  A  daughter  named  Agnes  married  John  Kirk, 
and  lived  in  Lincoln  County. 

Besides  the  old  families  already  mentioned,  who 
came  to  Rowan  County  at  its  first  settlement,  there 
were  others  who  came  after  the  War  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, and  near  the  close  of  the  century.  Among  the 
most  distinguished  of  these  was 

The  Henderson  Family 

This  family  was  descended  from  Samuel  Hender- 
son, of  Hanover  County,  Va.,  whose  ancestors 
were  from  Scotland,  where  the  name  of  Henderson 
was  conspicuous  among  the  leaders  in  both  civil  and 


MR.    A.    H.    BOYDEX 


OLD    FAMILIES   OF    ROWAN  299 

ecclesiastical  affairs  for  several  generations.  Samuel 
Henderson  married  a  i\liss  Williams,  whose  ancestors 
came  from  Wales.  A  son  of  this  couple  was  the  dis- 
tinguished Colonial  Judge,  Richard  Henderson,  who 
came  with  his  father  to  Granville  County,  N.  C,  in 
1745.  Richard  read  law  with  his  cousin,  Judge  Wil- 
liams, for  a  year,  and  was  then  licensed  with  en- 
comiums upon  his  talents  and  acquirements.  He 
soon  rose  to  the  highest  ranks  of  his  profession.  He 
was  appointed  a  Judge  of  the  Superior  Court,  and 
sustained  his  dignified  position  with  fidehty  and  honor 
during  the  exciting  and  dangerous  period  of  the  Regu- 
lation up  to  the  time  when  the  troubles  of  the  country 
closed  the  courts  of  justice.  After  an  honorable  and 
eventful  career,  he  closed  his  life  in  Granville  County 
in  1785. 

By  his  marriage  with  Elizabeth  Keeling,  he  left  a 
number  of  children,  several  of  whom  became  citizens 
of  Salisbury.  His  daughter,  Fanny,  as  already  men- 
tioned, became  the  wife  of  Judge  Macay.  His  son 
Leonard  was  distinguished  for  his  knowledge  of  the 
law,  and  became  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  North  Carolina.  But  the  son  that  became  the  honor 
and  pride  of  Rowan  was  the 

Hon.  Archibald  Henderson 

He  was  born  in  Granville  County,  August  7,  1768, 
and  was  educated  in  his  native  county,  and  studied  law 
with  his  relative.  Judge  Williams.  He  came  to  Salis- 
bury about  1790,  and  soon  rose  to  eminence  in  his 
profession.    Judge  ]\Iurphy,  in  1827,  said  that  he  was 


300  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

the  most  perfect  model  of  a  lawyer  that  our  bar  had 
produced.  From  an  elaborate  eulogy,  written  by  Hon. 
A.  D.  Murphy,  and  found  in  Colonel  W^heeler's 
Sketches,  we  glean  the  following  characteristics.  He 
was  a  man  of  great  dignity  of  character,  and  held  him- 
self above  the  little  passions  and  prejudices  of  men. 
He  delighted  in  studying  the  constitution  and  jurispru- 
dence of  his  country,  and  his  knowledge  assumed  a 
scientific  cast.  He  had  great  respect  for  authority  and 
glorified  in  the  fact  that  he  lived  under  a  government 
of  laws.  When  he  entered  a  Court  of  Justice  he  felt 
his  responsibility  as  an  expounder  of  the  law,  and  the 
guardian  of  the  rights  of  his  cUents.  To  his  associates 
at  the  bar  he  was  courteous,  and  to  the  younger  mem- 
bers of  his  profession  he  was  especially  kind  and  in- 
dulgent, rendering  them  aid  when  he  could  in  the 
management  of  their  cases.  His  speeches  were  gen- 
erally brief,  pointed,  and  conclusive,  and  in  great 
causes  his  eloquence  was  irresistible.  He  did  not 
badger  witnesses,  as  third-rate  lawyers  are  in  the  habit 
of  doing,  but  was  as  polite  and  decorous  to  them  as  to 
the  Court.  x\s  he  advanced  in  life  he  became  more 
accustomed  to  interpret  the  laws  by  the  rules  of  com- 
mon sense,  and  lost  reverence  for  artificial  rules,  be- 
ing desirous  to  strip  ofif  the  veil  of  mystery  from 
every  branch  of  the  law,  and  root  out  all  the  remains 
of  a  ridiculous  pedantry  that  so  often  makes  the  rules 
of  justice  unintelligible  to  the  common  mind."  It  is 
related  that,  in  1818,  when  the  Legislature  created  the 
Supreme     Court     of      Xorth      Carolina,      Archibald 


OLD    FAMILIES   OF    ROWAN  3OI 

Henderson  was  spoken  of  as  one  of  the  Justices,  along 
with  John  Lewis  Taylor  and  John  Hall.  Having  an 
extensive  and  lucrative  practice  at  the  bar,  and  taking 
special  delight  in  the  active  duties  of  an  advocate,  he 
went  before  the  Legislature,  of  which  he  was  a  mem- 
ber, and  courteously  declined  the  honor,  at  the  same 
time  assuring  them  that  his  brother,  Leonard  Hen- 
derson, was  better  qualified  for  the  duties  and  respon- 
sibilities of  that  office  than  himself,  and  that  it  would 
be  more  congenial  to  his  tastes.  The  Legislature 
thereupon  accepted  his  declination,  and  elected  his 
brother  in  his  stead. 

Archibald  Henderson  represented  his  district  in 
Congress  from  1799  to  1803,  and  the  Town  of  Salis- 
burg  three  times  in  the  General  Assembly.  He  was 
married  to  Sarah  Alexander,  daughter  of  William 
Alexander,  of  Cabarrus,  and  granddaughter  of  Col. 
Moses  Alexander,  of  Colonial  times.  Her  brother,  the 
Hon.  Nathaniel  Alexander,  of  Mecklenburg,  was 
elected  Governor  of  Xorth  Carolina  in  1805,  and  is 
represented  as  a  worthy  member  of  a  family  yet  fruit- 
ful in  talent  and  patriotism.  From  this  marriage  of 
Archibald  Henderson  with  Sarah  Alexander  there 
sprang  two  children — the  late  Archibald  Henderson,  of 
Salisbury,  and  Jane  Caroline,  now  Mrs.  Judge  Boyden. 

Archibald  Henderson  studied  at  Yale  College  and  at 
the  L'niversity  of  Virginia.  Returning  home,  he 
settled  down  near  Salisbury.  Possessed  of  an  ample 
estate,  and  being  of  a  quiet  disposition,  he  did  not  feel 
the  necessity  or  possess  the  disposition  to  enter  into 
any  of  the  active  and  stirring  professions  of  Hfe,  but 


302  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

devoted  his  attention  to  reading  and  the  management 
of  his  estate.  He  served  his  fellow-citizens  as  a  mag- 
istrate, and  for  a  while  as  a  member  of  the  Governor's 
Council.  A  staunch  and  intelligent  Democrat,  his 
opinions  had  great  weight  with  his  political  party. 

He  married  IMiss  Alary  Steele  Ferrand,  a  grand- 
daughter of  Gen.  John  Steele,  and  lived  at  the  seat  of 
General  Steele,  near  Salisbury.  His  children  were : 
Lieut.  Leonard  Henderson,  who  was  killed  at  the 
battle  of  Cold  Harbor  in  Virginia;  John  Steele  Hen- 
derson, Esq.,  now  a  member  of  the  Salisbury  bar; 
Richard  Henderson,  a  lieutenant  in  the  L^nited  States 
Navy,  now  in  active  service;  and  Mary,  still  at  home. 
Archibald  Henderson  died  within  the  present  year 
(1880),  and  his  remains  were  interred  beside  his 
father's  grave  in  the  Lutheran  graveyard  in  Salisbury. 

Jane  C.  Henderson,  daughter  of  the  Hon.  Archi- 
bald Henderson,  was  first  married  to  Dr.  Lueco 
Mitchell,  from  the  eastern  part  of  the  State.  Doctor 
Mitchell  was  a  surgeon  on  the  Caroline  during  the 
siege  of  New  Orleans,  in  the  War  of  1812 — a  fine 
physician  and  a  courteous  and  public-spirited  gentle- 
man. He  was  an  old-line  Whig,  and  took  a  prominent 
part  in  the  political  afifairs  of  his  day.  After  the  death 
of  Dr.  ]\Iitchell,  his  widow  became  the  wife  of  the 

Hon.  Nathaniel  Boyden 

then  a  successful  lawyer  in  full  practice.  Air.  Boyden 
was  a  native  of  Alassachusetts,  born  in  Franklin 
Township,  August  16,  1796,  and  graduated  at  Union 
College,  New  York,  in   1821,  and  the  next  year  re- 


OLD    FAMILIES   OF    ROWAN  3O3 

moved  to  North  Carolina  and  settled  in  Stokes  County, 
and   for  a   while    engaged    in    teaching    school.     He 
studied   law   and   was   married   to   Ruth   :\Iartin,   the 
daughter  of   Hugh  Martin,   Esq.,  of   Stokes   County. 
Our  fellow-citizen,  John  A.  Boyden,  Esq.,  and  the  late 
Mrs.   Ruth  Xesbit,  wife  of  Dr.  A.  M.    Nesbit,    and 
Nathaniel  Boyden,  Jr.,  are  children  by  this  marriage. 
Mr.  Boyden  represented  Stokes  County  in  1838,  and 
in  1840,  in  the  Legislature.     After  the  death  of  his 
first  wife,  he  removed  to  Salisbury,  in  1842.   Here  he 
rose  rapidly  in  popular   favor,   and    represented    his 
adopted  county  several  times  in  the  Legislature,  and 
his  District  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States.     He 
was  an  industrious,  enterprising,  and  successful  law- 
yer, and  clients  flocked  to  him  wherever  he  practiced 
law.     He  possessed  a  wonderful    memory,    retaining 
in  his  mind  not  only  the  law  bearing  upon  the  case,  but 
all  the  testimony,  however  voluminous,  without  noting 
it  on  paper.     His    eloquence    was    peculiar,    always 
arresting  attention,  and  his  audience  were  always  sure 
that  he  was  saying  something  to  the  point.     At  the 
close  of  the  late  war  he  was  again  elected  to  the  Con- 
gress of  the  United  States,  and  in  April,  1871,  he  was 
elected  one  of  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
North  Carolina.     After  a  long  and  active  life,  having 
filled  many  posts  of  honor,  and  exerting  an  influence 
over  the  minds  and  acts  of  his   fellow-men,    he    fell 
asleep  November  20,   1873.     By  his  second  marriage 
he  left  one  son,   :\Ir.   Archibald  Henderson   Boyden, 
now  doing  business  in  Spartanburg,  S.  C. 


304  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

A  brother  of  the  Hon.  Archibald  Henderson  and 
Judge  Leonard  Henderson,  named  John  Lawson 
Henderson,  resided  in  Salisbury  for  a  number  of 
years.  He  was  also  a  lawyer,  and  resided  on  the  lot 
once  owned  by  John  Dunn,  Esq.,  now  by  P.  P. 
Aleroney.  His  practice  was  not  as  extensive  as  his 
brother's,  and  for  a  number  of  years  he  was  Clerk  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  Xorth  Carolina.  He  spent 
much  of  his  time  in  Raleigh,  where  he  died  and  was 
buried. 

Another  distinguished  member  of  the  Henderson 
family  residing  in  Salisbury,  was  Dr.  Pleasant  Hender- 
son. Dr.  Henderson  was  the  son  of  Major  Pleasant 
Henderson,  of  Chapel  Hill.  ]\Iajor  Pleasant  Hender- 
son was  the  son  of  Samuel  Henderson,  of  Granville 
County,  and  the  brother  of  the  Colonial  Judge  Richard 
Henderson,  and  the  cousin  of  the  Hon.  Archibald 
Henderson,  of  Salisbury.  The  children  of  Col.  Pleas- 
ant Henderson,  were  Dr.  Alexander  Henderson,  of 
Salisbury ;  Eliza,  the  wife  of  Hamilton  C.  Jones,  Esq. ; 
William,  and  Tippoo  Sahib.  The  latter  name,  together 
with  the  fact  that  Edward  Jones,  of  Chatham,  called  a 
son  of  his,  Hyder  AH,  recalls  a  state  of  feeling  with 
which  we  are  now  unfamiliar.  Tippoo  Sahib  and  Hyder 
All  were  two  brave  and  powerful  East  Indian  chiefs, 
who  resisted  the  English  authority  in  Hindustan,  and 
so  great  was  the  animosity  of  many  of  our  people 
against  England,  in  the  days  immediately  preceding 
and  during  the  war  of  181 2- 14.  that  these  two  men 
gloried  in  calling  their  sons  after  these  fierce  heathen 
chieftains,  simply  because  they  were  England's   ene- 


OLD    FAMILIES   OF    ROWAN  305 

mies.  Dr.  Pleasant  Henderson  was  for  a  long  time 
the  most  popular  physician  in  Western  North  Caro- 
lina. Handsome,  genial,  polite,  skillful  in  his  profes- 
sion, a  jovial  companion,  and  generous  to  a  fault,  the 
people  loved  him  dearly.  He  lived  for  a  long  time 
unmarried,  but  at  last  married  a  lady  as  genial  and 
accomphshed  as  himself,  Rebecca  Wimbish,  of  Vir- 
ginia. He  died  about  1850,  and  his  remains  lie  in  the 
Oak  Grove  Cemetery,  in  Salisbury.  Xo  monument 
marks  the  spot  where  he  sleeps,  and  perhaps  nobody 
knows  where  his  grave  is.  He  left  no  children,  and 
his  widow  married  Judge  Mills,  of  Texas. 

Dr.  Alexander  Henderson  was  a  widower  when  he 
came  to  Salisbury,  leaving  a  couple  of  daughters  with 
their  mother's  relatives,  near  Raleigh,  to  be  educated. 
He  afterwards  married  a  Miss  Wimbish,  sister  to  his 
brother's  wife.  After  practicing  his  profession  here 
for  a  number  of  years,  he  removed  to  Alabama. 

Eliza  Henderson  married,  as  before  stated, 

Hamilton  C.  Jones,  Esq. 

Many  of  our  citizens  remember  this  genial  gentle- 
man, who  passed  from  our  midst  only  a  few  years  ago. 
His  country  home  was  Como,  three  miles  south  of 
Salisbury,  on  the  Concord  Road.  From  Colonel 
Wheeler's  Sketches  we  learn  that  ^Ir.  Jones  was  a  na- 
tive of  Virginia,  born  in  Greenville,  in  1798,  and  grad- 
uated from  the  University  of  Xorth  Carolina  in  181 8, 
in  the  same  class  with  President  James  K.  Polk,  Bishop 
Greene,  Robert  Hall  ^Morrison,  D.  D..  and  other  dis- 
tinguished men.     He  read  law  with  Judge  Gaston  at 


306  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

Newbern,  and  soon  entered  public  life  as  a  member 
of  the  Legislature,  serving  a  number  of  terms.  For 
some  years  he  was  Solicitor  and  reporter  for  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  North  Carolina.  \Miile  engaged  in 
public  affairs  he  exercised  a  great  influence,  and  his 
speeches  were  listened  to  with  attention  by  all.  In  July, 
1832,  Mr.  Jones  started  The  Carolina  Watchman,  in  the 
interest  of  the  Whig  Party,  and  continued  to  edit  the 
same  for  a  period  of  seven  years.  His  paper  rendered 
efficient  service,  and  at  one  time  he  was  invited  to 
transfer  it  to  Raleigh,  but  declined  to  do  so.  In  1839 
he  sold  the  paper  to  Pendleton  &  Bruner,  and  the  last- 
named  editor  has  continued,  with  two  or  three  short 
suspensions,  to  edit  and  publish  The  Watchman  ever 
since — a  period  of  forty-one  years. 

As  a  humorist,  Mr.  Jones  was  not  often  excelled, 
possessing  an  inexhaustible  fund  of  anecdotes,  and  the 
power  to  relate  them  by  word  or  by  pen  in  a  manner 
pecuHarly  and  irresistibly  ludicrous.  By  his  marriage 
with  Eliza  Henderson,  he  left  five  children — Col. 
Hamilton  C.  Jones,  a  lawyer  and  brave  soldier  in  the 
late  war,  now  practicing  his  profession  in  Charlotte ; 
Capt.  Martin  Jones ;  Martha,  married  to  Mr.  Tate, 
of  Morganton ;  Julia ;  and  AHce,  married  to  Mr.  Broad- 
nax,  of  Rockingham  County.  Mr.  Jones  died  a  few 
years  ago  (1887)  and  the  home  where  he  so  long 
lived  passed  into  other  hands.  A  short  time  ago  the 
residence  was  consumed  by  fire,  and  nothing  but  the 
trees  and  the  outbuildings  mark  the  spot  once  so  well 
known  among  us. 


OLD    FAMILIES   OF    ROWAN  3O7 

Another  family  of  Old  Rowan  was 

The  Pearson  Family 

Richard  Pearson,  the  founder  of  this  family,  was  a 
native  of  Dinwiddie  County,  Va.,  and  came  to 
North  Carolina  at  nineteen  years  of  age,  and  settled  in 
the  Forks  of  the  Yadkin,  then  Rowan,  now  Davie 
County.  At  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolutionary 
War,  Richmond  Pearson  was  a  lieutenant  in  Captain 
Bryan's  Company,  and  settled  the  political  affinity  of 
his  Company  by  whipping  his  captain  in  a  fist  fight,  as 
related  in  a  previous  chapter.  Captain  Pearson  was 
present  when  Cornwallis  crossed  Cowan's  Ford  on  the 
Catawba,  in  1781,  and  witnessed  the  fall  of  the  brave 
Gen.  William  Davidson.  He  was  a  merchant  and  a 
planter,  and  at  an  early  day  succeeded  in  navigating 
the  Yadkin  River.  He  is  said  to  have  established  a 
combined  land  and  water  route,  as  follows :  From  his 
mills  on  the  South  Fork,  by  boat  down  the  Yadkin  to 
the  Narrows;  thence  by  land  below  the  Grassy  Is- 
lands ;  then  again  by  the  river  to  Sneedsboro,  which 
was  then  a  rival  of  Cheraw.  Perhaps  when  the  Yad- 
kin is  opened  as  far  as  Bean's  Shoals,  or  Wilkesboro, 
for  light  draught  steamers,  according  to  the  plan  now 
undertaken,  it  will  be  found  that  communication  may 
be  practicable  to  the  sea  by  water,  and  thus  reduce  the 
freights  now  exacted  for  heavy  articles  on  the  rail- 
road. 

Richmond  Pearson  was  twice  married.  His  first 
wife  was  Miss  Hayden,  and  she  bore  him  three  sons 
and    a    daughter,    namely :     Gen.    Jesse    A.    Pearson, 


308  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

Hon.  Joseph  Pearson,  Richmond  Pearson,  and  Ehza- 
beth. 

By  his  second  marriage  Richmond  Pearson  had  six 
children — Sarah,  Eliza,  Charles,  Richmond  ]\Ium- 
ford,  Giles  N.,  and  John  Stokes  Pearson.  ^lost  of 
these  children  occupied  prominent  and  responsible 
positions  in  their  day.  Jesse  A.  Pearson  represented 
Rowan  County  in  the  Legislature  five  times.  In  1814, 
he  was  colonel  of  a  regiment  that  marched  against 
the  Creek  Indians  under  Gen.  Joseph  Graham.  He 
was  first  married  to  a  daughter  of  Gen.  John  Steele, 
and  afterwards  to  a  ^Irs.  Wilson,  whose  daughter  by 
a  former  husband  was  the  first  wife  of  Archibald 
Carter,  Esq.,  of  Davie. 

Hon.  Joseph  Pearson  was  a  lawyer,  represented 
the  borough  of  SaHsbury  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
and  was  a  member  of  Congress  from  1809  to  181 5. 

Richmond  Pearson,  though  never  in  public  life,  was 
an  active,  enterprising  man.  He  is  celebrated  for 
having  passed  over  the  falls  of  the  Yadkin  in  a  boat, 
with  two  companions.  Xobody  else  is  known  to  have 
attempted  this  hazardous  enterprise. 

But  the  most  distinguished  of  the  family  was  Rich- 
mond M.  Pearson.  He  was  born  in  1805,  prepared 
for  college  by  John  ]\Iushat,  at  Statesville,  and  grad- 
uated at  the  University  of  North  Carolina  in  1823. 
He  studied  law  under  Judge  Henderson,  and  was 
licensed  to  practice  in  1826.  From  1829  to  1832  he 
represented  Rowan  County  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons. In  1836,  he  was  elected  Judge  of  the  Superior 
Court,  and  in  1848  he  was  transferred  to  the  Supreme 


OLD    FAMILIES   OF    ROWAN  309 

Court  of  North  Carolina.  In  1866,  he  became  Chief 
Justice,  with  XMlUam  H.  Battle  and  E.  G.  Reade  as 
Associate  Justices.  In  1870,  under  the  Shof¥ner  Bill, 
Governor  Holden  ordered  George  W.  Kirk,  with  a 
considerable  body  of  troops,  to  march  into  Alamance, 
Orange,  and  Caswell  Counties.  ]\Iany  arrests  were 
made,  and  among  others  those  of  Josiah  Turner  and 
John  Kerr,  afterwards  Judge  Kerr.  When  applied 
to  for  writ  of  habeas  corpus  for  some  of  these  im- 
prisoned citizens.  Judge  Pearson  promptly  granted  it, 
but  declined  to  attach  Kirk  for  disobeying  it,  declar- 
ing that  the  "judiciary  was  exhausted."  Though  the 
decision  bore  severely  upon  the  prisoners,  it  is  difficult 
to  see  how  a  Judge  could  enforce  the  writ,  with  the 
Governor  in  command  of  the  troops  of  the  State,  and 
hostile  to  the  rights  of  the  citizen.  In  January,  1878, 
Chief  Justice  Pearson  died  on  his  way  to  Raleigh  to 
hold  the  January  term  of  the  Supreme  Court.  ]\Ioore 
in  his  History  says  of  him,  that  "His  strong  native 
ability,  profound  learning,  and  long  judicial  career 
have  made  him  immortal  in  legal  circles.  It  is  prob- 
able that  he  was  the  profoundest  jurist  ever  born  in 
Rowan  County. 

For  a  number  of  years,  Judge  Pearson  resided  at 
Richmond  Hill,  near  Rockford,  in  Surry  County. 
There  he  conducted  a  law  school,  and  students  from 
all  parts  of  the  State  flocked  to  his  school  for  instruc- 
tion. 

Giles  N.  Pearson,  a  younger  brother  of  Chief  Jus- 
tice Pearson,  was  also  a  lawyer  by  profession,  and  re- 
sided in  ]\Iocksville.     He  married  a  dausfhter  of  An- 


310  HISTORY  OF  ROWAX   COUNTY 

derson  Ellis,  St.,  of  Davidson  County,  a  sister  of 
Governor  Ellis.  He  died  in  1847,  leaving  a  wife  and 
five  children,  several  of  them  still  surviving. 

Gov.  John  \\\  Ellis 

was  a  native  of  Davidson  County,  then  Rowan, 
and  was  born  on  the  twenty-third  of  November, 
1820.  The  family  of  the  Elhses,  for  several 
generations,  lived  in  the  famed  Jersey  Settle- 
ment, on  the  eastern  banks  of  the  Yadkin,  and 
several  of  them  accumulated  fortunes.  Anderson 
Ellis,  Sr.,  gave  to  his  children  the  advantage  of  a 
good  education,  and  most  of  them  became  prominent 
and  useful  citizens.  John  \\'illis  was  early  sent  to  a 
classical  school,  taught  by  Robert  AUison,  Esq.,  at 
Beattie's  Ford.  After  spending  a  season  at  Randolph- 
Macon  College,  in  A^irginia,  he  went  to  the  University 
of  North  Carolina,  where  he  was  graduated  in  1841. 
His  legal  studies  were  pursued  under  Judge  Pearson. 
He  opened  a  law  office  in  Salisbury,  and  by  his  dili- 
gence and  talents  soon  won  a  place  in  public  confi- 
dence. He  bore  the  reputation  of  a  hard  student,  and 
the  passer-by  would  see  the  light  of  Ellis'  lamp  until 
long  after  midnight.  Two  years  after  his  licensure 
he  was  chosen  to  represent  Rowan  County  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  and  he  continued  in  that  place 
until  1848,  when  he  was  elected  Judge  of  the  Superior 
'Court,  when  only  twenty-eight  years  of  age.  He 
held  this  important  post  with  credit  to  himself  and 
honor  to  the  State  until  1858,  when  he  was  elected 
Governor  of  North  Carolina  over  John  Pool,  of  Pas- 


OLD    FAMILIES    OF    ROWAN  3II 

quotank.  The  issue  between  Ellis  and  Pool  was  what 
was  called  the  ad  valorem  system  of  taxation,  a  sys- 
tem defended  with  great  ingenuity  by  Pool  and  the 
\\'higs,  but  which  failed  to  carry  the  Party  into  power. 
\\'hen,  in  1861,  President  Lincoln  called  upon  Gov- 
ernor ElHs  for  troops  to  serve  against  South  Carolina, 
the  Governor  called  for  twenty  thousand  men — not 
to  help  to  reduce  South  Carolina,  but  for  whatever 
side  the  Convention  of  North  Carolina  should  take. 
The  Convention  met  and  passed  an  ordinance  of 
secession.  May  20,  1861.  Governor  Ellis  devoted  all 
his  energies  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  hour.  But 
his  health  failed  him,  and  he  resorted  to  the  Red  Sul- 
phur Springs,  in  Virginia,  to  restore  his  strength.  But 
the  flame  of  life  flickered  only  a  moment  longer,  and 
he  died  on  the  seventh  of  July,  1861,  only  a  few  weeks 
after  the  battle  of  Big  Bethel,  when  Gen.  (then  Col.) 
D.  H.  Hill  met  and  defeated  Gen.  B.  F.  Butler.  Thus 
it  was  that  his  brave  spirit  departed  from  earth  just 
as  the  storm  of  war  began  to  burst  over  the  devoted 
South.  His  remains  sleep  in  quiet,  in  Oak  Grove 
Cemetery,  in  Salisbury,  where  a  shaft  of  polished 
marble  marks  his  resting-place. 

Governor  Ellis  first  married  Alary,  only  daughter  of 
Hon.  Philo  W^hite,  a  scion  of  the  Brandon  stock,  and 
her  remains  lie  by  the  side  of  his,  under  another  mar- 
ble shaft. 

He  was  married  a  second  time  to  Aliss  Daves,  a 
lady  of  Xewbern,  N.  C,  and  left  two  daughters. 


312  history  of  rowan  county 

The  Caldwell  Family 

In  the  eastern  part  of  Iredell  County,  then  Rowan, 
there  lived  a  hundred  years  ago  a  substantial  citizen 
by  the  name  of  Andrew  Caldwell.  He  was  of  that 
sturdy,  Scotch-Irish  stock  that  peopled  so  much  of 
this  region  of  the  country.  He  married  Ruth,  the 
second  daughter  of  the  Hon.  W'iUiam  Sharpe.  He 
was  a  leading  man  in  his  county  and  often  represented 
his  fellow-citizens  in  the  Legislature.  He  had  a  num- 
ber of  children,  among  them  three  sons  widely  known, 
viz. :  Hon.  David  F.  Caldwell,  Hon.  Joseph  P.  Cald- 
well, of  Iredell,  and  Dr.  Elam  Caldwell,  of  Lincolnton. 
But  we  are  more  particularly  interested  in  Hon.  D.  F. 
Caldwell,  so  long  a  citizen  of  Rowan  County. 

David  Franklin  Caldwell 

was  born  in  1792,  and  pursued  his  literary  course  at 
Chapel  Hill.  He  studied  law  with  the  Hon.  Archi- 
bald Henderson,  of  Salisbury,  and  entered  public  life 
as  a  member  of  the  House  of  Commons  from  Iredell, 
in  1816,  where  he  served  several  years.  After  a  time 
he  removed  to  Salisbury,  and  in  1829,  1830,  and 
1 83 1,  represented  Rowan  in  the  Senate  of  Xorth 
Carolina.  He  was  Speaker  of  the  Senate  in  1829. 
After  this  he  pursued  his  profession  as  a  lawyer  with 
eminent  success  for  a  number  of  years.  In  1844  he 
was  promoted  to  the  position  of  Judge  of  the  Superior 
Courts  of  North  Carolina. 

Judge  Caldwell  was  a  stern,  but  impartial  judge, 
and  presided  with  great  dignity,  keeping  the  witnesses. 


OLD   FAMILIES   OF    ROWAN  313 

jurors,  and  lawyers  in  good  order.  ]\Iany  anecdotes 
are  told  of  his  eccentricities,  all  leaning  to  the  side 
of  simplicity,  kindness,  order,  and  decency.  A 
lawyer,  then  quite  young,  was  sick  during  the 
Court  in  Washington,  and  was  visited  very 
kindly  by  Judge  Caldwell.  At  a  Court  the  next  week, 
the  young  lawyer,  still  quite  feeble,  managed  to  attend, 
and  when  a  case  was  called  in  which  he  was  interested, 
rose  to  speak.  "Sit  down.  Sir,"  said  the  Judge,  in  his 
sternest  tones.  The  lawyer  sat  down,  as  if  thunder- 
struck. In  a  moment,  however,  he  rose  again  to 
speak,  and  was  told  to  sit  down,  in  still  more  terrible 
tones.  Again  he  sat  down,  not  knowi^ig  what  it  all 
meant.  Then  the  Judge  said,  ''You  are  not  able  to 
stand  up,  and  I  will  hear  you  from  your  seat."  The 
lawyer  was  amazed  at  the  unexpected  turn  of  affairs, 
and  knowing  that  he  would  not  be  allowed  to  stand, 
addressed  the  Judge  from  his  seat.  Upon  a  certain 
occasion,  it  is  related,  a  young  lawyer  took  his  seat 
inside  the  bar  dressed  in  peculiarly  dandyish  style. 
The  Judge  surveyed  him  from  head  to  foot,  and  mut- 
tered to  himself,  "Hair  parted  in  the  middle,"  "]Mus- 
tache,"  "Ruffled  shirt,"  "Striped  vest,"  "Straps," 
"Pumps."  Then  in  thundering  tones,  "Get  out  of  the 
bar!"  Some  older  lawyer  arose  and  informed  the 
Judge  that  the  young  man  was  a  lawyer,  and  had  a 
right  to  a  seat  in  the  bar.  "I  beg  pardon,"  said  the 
Judge,  "but  I  did  not  think  that  any  lawyer  had  so 
little  sense  as  to  dress  in  that  way." 

Upon  another  occasion,  the  Judge  asked  a  lawyer 
for  a  chew  of  tobacco.    The  lawyer  handed  him  a  piece 


314  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

of  plug,  bitten  all  around.  The  Judge  turned  it  around 
and  around  in  his  hand,  and  remarked  aloud,  "W^hy 
don't  you  cut  off  your  tobacco,  like  a  gentleman,  and 
not  gnaw  it  off  in  that  indecent  way?" 

Judge  Caldwell  had  a  high  respect  for  honest  labor. 
One  day  while  passing  the  premises  of  a  minister,  he 
saw  him  with  his  coat  off,  spading  up  his  garden. 
Lifting  his  hat  in  the  old-time  fashion  of  courtesy,  he 
said:  ''Saint  Paul  used  to  labor  with  his  own  hands, 
and  I  am  glad  to  see  one  minister  who  is  not  ashamed 
to  follow  his  example." 

His  second  wife  lies  buried  under  the  lecture- 
room  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Salisbury.  For 
many  years  Judge  Caldwell  was  in  the  habit  of  lifting 
his  hat  reverently  every  time  he  passed  the  corner. 

In  1858,  being  then  sixty-eight  years  of  age,  he  felt 
it  his  duty  to  resign  his  seat  on  the  judicial  bench,  un- 
willing to  continue  until  he  would  become  unfit  for  his 
duties.  He  died,  in  1867,  at  the  age  of  seventy-seven, 
and  his  remains,  unmarked  by  a  monument,  are  lying 
beside  the  resting-place  of  his  first  wife,  near  the  mon- 
ument of  the  Hon.  Archibald  Henderson. 

Judge  Caldwell  was  twice  married.  He  first  married 
Fanny,  the  daughter  of  William  Lee  Alexander,  Esq., 
and  niece  of  Hon.  Archibald  Henderson.  Their 
children  were,  William  Lee,  Archibald  Henderson, 
Elizabeth  Ruth,  who  married  Col.  Charles  Fisher; 
Richard  Alexander  Caldwell,  Esq.,  Dr.  JuHus  An- 
drew Caldwell,  and  Fanny  ]^vIcCoy,  married  to  Peter 
Hairston,  Esq.  After  the  death  of  his  first  wife,  he 
married  ]\Irs.  Rebecca  M.  Troy,  nee  Xesbit,  the  widow 


OLD    FAMILIES   OF    ROWAN  315 

of  the  late  ^latthew  Troy,  Esq.,  and  the  half-sister  of 
the  late  Maxwell  Chambers,  Esq.  Her  remains  are 
interred  beneath  the  Presbyterian  lecture-room,  near 
to  Mr.  Chambers'  grave.  She  was  an  earnest  Chris- 
tian woman,  of  a  meek  and  quiet  spirit.  During  her 
widowhood,  she  and  her  half-brother,  Maxwell  Cham- 
bers, lived  east  of  town,  where  Capt.  John  Beard  now 
lives.  Afterwards,  they  purchased  and  lived  in  the 
residence  where  Mrs.  Dr.  Joseph  \Y.  Hall  now  lives. 
At  the  same  time,  Mrs.  Troy,  the  mother  of  ^Matthew 
Troy,  and  her  daughter,  Catherine  Troy,  lived  in  the 
house  where  R.  J.  Holmes  now  resides,  on  Innes 
Street. 

The  Chambers  and  Troy  Families 
We  have  already  drifted  into  some  account  of  one 
or  two  members  of  these  families,  but  a  fuller  account 
may  be  interesting.  During  the  Revolutionary  War, 
Maxwell  Chambers,  the  elder,  resided  in  Salisbury! 
He  lived  on  the  place  where  Mr.  S.  H.  Wiley's  resi- 
dence now  stands.  Lord  Cornwallis  made  his  head- 
quarters in  this  house,  in  1781.  Alaxwell  Chambers 
was  the  treasurer  of  the  Committee  of  Safety  for 
Rowan,  in  1775-76,  and  was  a  true  patriot,  though  he 
once  fell  under  the  censure  of  the  Committee  for  rais- 
ing the  price  of  powder,  and  it  was  ordered  that  he  be 
advertised  as  an  enemy  of  his  country.  After  the  war 
he  lived  at  Spring  Hill,  about  two  miles  east  of  Salis- 
bury, where  he  raised  a  large  family.  He  was  mar- 
ried to  the  daughter  of  George  Magoune,  who  had 
married  Hester  Long,  the  widow  of  John  Long,  and 


3l6  HISTORY  OF  ROW  AX   COUNTY 

mother  of  Alexander  Long,  Esq.  ^laxwell  Chambers 
had  nine  sons,  named  William,  ]\Iaxwell — who  was 
graduated  at  Chapel  Hill  in  1809,  Henry,  Joseph, 
Samuel,  Edward,  Thomas,  Otho,  and  John.  Henry 
became  a  lawyer,  and  Maxwell  a  physician ;  the  others 
were  farmers.  They  all  died  early  in  life,  some  of 
them  unmarried,  and  it  is  not  known  that  any  of  their 
descendants  are  now  living  in  this  county.  The  late 
\\'illiam  Chambers  was  a  son  of  Edward  Chambers, 
but  left  no  children.  John  Chambers  married  Pan- 
thea  Troy,  sister  of  Matthew  Troy,  Esq.,  and  of  the 
late  ]\Irs.  Alaxwell  Chambers. 

]\Iaxwell  Chambers 

the  younger,  was  a  distant  relative  of  the  family  al- 
ready mentioned,  and  was  the  son  of  Joseph  and 
Mary  Chambers,  of  Salisbury.  Beneath  the  lecture- 
room  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Salisbury,  there 
are  ten  graves,  nine  of  them  covered  with  marble 
slabs,  and  one  marked  by  a  headstone.  As  there  is 
historical  matter  inscribed  on  those  slabs,  and  the  gen- 
eral public  never  see  these  inscriptions,  I  will  give  the 
epitaphs  in  substance.  Commencing  next  to  the  wall, 
we  find  the  first  monument  and  the  oldest,  with  this 
inscription : 

1.  William  Xesbit,  died  November  22,  1799,  aged 
sixty-four  years. 

2.  Adelaide  Fulton,   daughter  of  John  and   ]\Iary 
Fulton,  died  at  two  weeks  of  age. 

3.  ]\Iary  Fulton,  died  January  5,  1806,  aged  forty- 
five  years. 


OLD    FAMILIES    OF    ROWAN  317 

(a)  She  was  first  married  to  Joseph  Chambers,  by 
whom  she  had  one  son,  Maxwell  Chambers. 

(b)  She  was  next  married  to  William  Nesbit,  and 
had  two  children,  David  M.  and  Rebecca  AI.  Nesbit. 

(c)  She  was  again  married,  to  John  Fulton,  and 
had  one  child,  Adelaide  Fulton. 

4.  David  M.  Nesbit,  son  of  \Mlliam  and  Mary 
Nesbit,  died  October  19,  181 1,  aged  twenty-five  years. 

5.  Henry  M.  Troy,  son  of  Matthew  and  Rebecca 
M.  Troy,  died  July  8,  1824,  aged  eleven  years,  eleven 
months,  and  fifteen  days. 

6.  Laura  Troy,  daughter  of  Matthew  and  Rebecca 
M.  Troy,  died  November  16,  1828,  aged  eighteen 
years,  one  month,  one  day. 

7.  Rebecca  M.  Caldwell,  second  wife  of  Hon.  D. 
F.  Caldwell,  died  November  28,  1855,  in  the  sixty- 
fifth  year  of  her  age. 

8.  Panthea  Jane  Daviess,  daughter  of  Robert  and 
Anne  Daviess,  of  Mercer  County,  Ky.,  died  May  20, 
i835>  SLged  sixteen  years. 

9.  Catherine  B.  Chambers,  consort  of  Maxwell 
Chambers,  and  daughter  of  Matthew  and  Jane  Troy, 
died  November  2^,  1852,  aged  sixty-seven  years,  seven 
months,  and  three  days. 

10.  Maxwell  Chambers,  died  February  7,  1855, 
aged  seventy-five  years,  one  month,  and  fourteen 
days. 

From  the  above  figures  we  gather  that  Maxwell 
Chambers  was  the  son  of  Joseph  and  :\Iary  Chambers, 
and  was  born  on  the  twenty-third  of  January,  1780. 
Tradition  states  that  he  was  born  in  the  house  now  the 


3l8  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

residence  of  Thomas  J.  ]\Ieroney,,  on  ]\Iain  Street. 
His  early  education  was  probably  secured  in  Salis- 
bury, and  he  entered  into  business  here  with  his  uncle, 
a  Mr.  Campbell,  from  which  we  infer  that  his  mother's 
maiden  name  was  Campbell.  After  conducting  busi- 
ness here  for  awhile,  Mr.  Campbell  and  ]\Ir.  Chambers 
went  to  Charleston  and  set  up  in  mercantile  business 
there.  Here  ^Ir.  Chambers  laid  the  foundation  of 
his  fortune,  and  after  awhile  he  returned  to  Salisbury 
and  lived  with  his  widowed  half-sister,  ]\Irs.  Rebecca 
M.  Troy.  After  a  time  he  married  Miss  Catherine 
B.  Troy,  the  daughter  of  ^Matthew  Troy  the  elder,  and 
sister  of  Matthew  Troy  the  younger.  It  is  said  that 
an  attachment  had  long  existed  between  this  couple, 
but  Mr.  Chambers  had  thought  himself  too  poor  to 
marry  in  his  younger  days.  But  when  he  had  amassed 
a  considerable  fortune,  of  perhaps  one  or  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  and  she  being  the  owner  of  about 
thirty  thousand  dollars,  they  considered  themselves  in 
proper  circumstances  to  marry,  though  both  were 
somewhat  advanced  in  life.  They  settled  at  the  Xes- 
bit  place,  on  Innes  Street,  now  the  home  of  R.  J. 
Holmes,  and  here  they  ended  their  days.  Mr.  Cham- 
bers never  entered  into  regular  business  again,  but  be- 
came a  general  trader,  and  attended  to  the  manage- 
ment of  his  large  estate.  He  was  eminently  success- 
ful in  accumulating  property,  and  at  his  death  had 
amassed  a  fortune  of  nearly  a  half-million  dollars.  He 
made  arrangements  for  the  removal  and  liberation  of 
all  his  slaves  at  his  death,  and  these  plans  were  faith- 
fully carried  out  by  his  executors,  and  between  thirty 


OLD   FAMILIES   OF   ROWAN  319 

and  forty  slaves  were  sent  to  the  Northwest,  and 
started  in  life  in  their  new  home.  Besides  legacies 
to  many  of  his  kindred  and  friends,  and  to  the  church 
of  his  choice,  he  left  a  residuary  legacy  to  Davidson 
College,  which  would  have  amounted  to  two  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  dollars  if  the  College  had  obtained 
all  he  intended  for  it.  But  owing  to  the  limitations 
of  its  Charter,  the  College  could  not  receive  the  whole 
amount,  and  a  considerable  sum  went  to  his  heirs  that 
were  next  of  kin. 

The  inscription  on  the  marble  slab  that  covers  his 
remains  is  probably  as  fair  a  delineation  of  character 
as  was  ever  put  upon  a  monument,  and  it  is  here 
given : 

''In  his  business  he  possessed  the  clearest  foresight 
and  the  profoundest  judgment. 

''In  all  his  transactions  he  was  exact  and  just. 

"In  social  life,  dignified,  but  confiding,  tender,  and 
kind. 

"In  his  plans,  wise,  prudent,  and  successful. 

"In  his  bestowments  his  hand  was  not  only  liberal 
but   often  munificent. 

"In  the  close  of  his  life  he  set  his  house  in  order, 
willed  his  soul  to  God,  and  the  greater  part  of  his 
estate  to  the  cause  of  education,  through  the  church 
of  his  choice." 

Mr.  Chambers  was  not  promiscuously  liberal,  but 
only  to  the  objects  he  considered  worthy,  and  in  his 
own  way.  Upon  a  certain  occasion  a  poor  man  had 
his  house  burned  down,  and  the  next  day  some  friend 
took  around  a  subscription  paper  for  his  benefit.     The 


320  HISTORY   OF   ROWAX   COUXTY 

paper  was  somewhat  ostentatiously  presented  to  ]\Ir. 
Chambers,  but  he  utterly  refused  to  subscribe.  He 
was  of  course  severely  criticized  for  his  illiberality; 
but  while  the  critics  were  handing  his  penuriousness 
around,  ]\Ir.  Chambers  quietly  ordered  one  of  his 
servants  to  get  ready  a  cart,  and  he  and  his  good  wife 
filled  it  with  flour,  meal,  lard,  bacon,  bed-clothing,  and 
other  things  to  the  value  of  nearly  fifty  dollars,  per- 
haps equal  in  value  to  the  gifts  of  all  the  others  com- 
bined, and  the  poor  man  found  himself  richer  than  he 
had  been  before  the  fire.  Mr.  Chambers  never  mixed 
business  and  charity  together.  He  would  give  and 
take  the  last  cent  due  in  a  trade,  and  when  he  chose 
to  give,  he  gave  liberally.  His  good  wife,  familiarly 
known  as  "Aunt  Kitty,"  was  the  soul  of  kindness.  She 
was  an  earnest  and  devout  Christian,  and  full  of  faith 
and  good  w^orks.  To  her  pastor,  living  on  a  salary 
rather  small,  and  with  a  large  family,  and  many  visi- 
tors, she  made  weekly,  and  sometimes  daily  donations, 
amounting  in  the  year  to  some  hundreds  of  dollars. 
For  some  years  before  her  death  she  was  blind,  but 
still  patient,  submissive,  and  charitable.  Her  por- 
trait, with  that  of  her  husband,  hangs  in  the  parlor  of 
the  manse  in  Salisbury,  as  perpetual  memorials  of 
their  benefactions. 

Rowan  County  has  been  the  home  of  a  number  of 
other  distinguished  men,  of  whom  but  little  mention 
can  be  made  without  swelling  these  ^lemoirs  beyond 
the  limits  assigned.  Among  these,  brief  mention  must 
be  made  of 


old  families  of  rowan  321 

Hon.   John   Giles 

He  was  a  native  of  Salisbury,  and  a  descendant,  by 
his  mother's  side,  of  the  early  lawyer,  John  Dunn, 
Esq.  He  was  graduated  from  the  University  of  North 
Carolina  in  1808.  He  studied  law,  and  settled  in  his 
native  town,  where  he  practiced  his  profession  for 
more  than  thirty  years.  The  name  of  Jack  Giles,  as 
he  was  familiarly  called,  was  known  in  the  whole 
western  part  of  the  State.  He  was  the  clerk  of  the 
Rowan  Superior  Court  for  many  years ;  and  was 
elected  to  Congress  from  his  district  in  1829,  but  was 
compelled  to  decline  because  of  ill  health.  He  never 
married,  but  maintained  his  mother  and  his  sisters 
handsomely  while  he  lived.  One  of  his  sisters  was  the 
second  wife  of  John  Fulton,  after  whom  one  of  the 
streets  of  Salisbury  is  named,  and  also  the  Salisbury 
lodge  of  Freemasons.  But  the  last  race  of  the  Gileses 
and  Fultons  has  been  laid  in  the  grave, 

Hon.  William  C.  Love 

represented  the  Sahsbury  District  in  Congress  in  1815. 
He  was  a  Virginian  by  birth,  and  reared  at  the  Univer- 
sity of  that  State.  He  studied  law  and  removed  to 
Salisbury,  where  he  first  married  Elizabeth,  a  daugh- 
ter of  the  Hon.  Spruce  Macay,  by  whom  he  had  one 
child,  the  late  Robert  E.  Love,  Esq.  His  second  wife 
was  Sally  Yarboro,  daughter  of  Capt.  Edward 
Yarboro,  and  granddaughter  of  Alexander  Long, 
Esq.,  of  Yadkin  Ferry,  by  whom  he  had  two 
children,  A\'illiam  and  Julius  Love.     William  C.  Love 


322  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

and  his  second  wife  both  He  buried  in  the  private 
burying-ground  of  the  Yarboro  family  in  SaHsbury, 
just  in  the  rear  of  Meroney's  Hall,  on  the  spot  where 
the  hotel  for  colored  people  now  stands. 

The  Fisher  Family 

The  Hon.  Charles  Fisher  was  a  native  of  Rowan 
County,  and  was  bom  October  20,  1779.  His  father 
came  to  North  Carolina  before  the  Revolution,  and 
was  an  officer  of  militia  during  the  war.  The  subject 
of  this  notice  was  educated  by  Rev.  Dr.  John  Robin- 
son, of  Poplar  Tent,  and  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  IMcPheeters, 
of  Raleigh.  He  studied  law  and  obtained  license  to 
practice,  but  soon  abandoned  the  bar  for  the  more 
stirring  scenes  of  political  life.  He  enjoyed  the  con- 
fidence of  the  people  of  Rowan  County  as  fully  as  any 
man  who  ever  lived  in  the  county,  and  they  delighted 
to  honor  him  with  every  office  for  which  he  ever  asked 
their  suffrages.  In  1819  he  represented  Rowan  in  the 
State  Senate,  and  in  the  same  year  was  elected  from 
the  Rowan  EHstrict  for  Congress.  After  this  term 
he  again  served  Rowan  County  in  the  State  Legisla- 
ture, and  was  a  member  of  the  Convention  of  1835, 
called  to  amend  the  State  Constitution.  In  1839  he 
was  again  elected  to  Congress,  over  Dr.  Pleasant  Hen- 
derson, though  the  latter  was  a  most  popular  man,  and 
the  champion  of  a  Party  supposed  to  be  in  the  majority. 
Mr.  Fisher  was  one  of  the  most  active  and  energetic 
men  in  the  State,  and  an  unyielding  advocate  of  State 
rights  against  Federal  encroachments  and  usurpations. 


OLD    FAMILIES    OF    ROWAN  323 

Near  the  close  of  life  he  became  a  member  of  the 
Evangelical  Lutheran  Church,  and  strove  to  discharge 
his  duty  to  his  Creator,  as  he  had  endeavored  to  do  his 
duty  to  his  country. 

After  a  long  and  honored  and  useful  life,  he  died 
far  away  from  home,  in  Hillsboro,  ]\Iiss.,  on  the 
seventh  of  May,  1849.  ^o  monument  marks  his 
grave.  His  ashes  should  rest  here,  in  one  of  the  ceme- 
teries among  the  honored  dead  of  Rowan.  Air.  Fisher 
married  Christina,  daughter  of  Lewis  Beard,  Esq.,  of 
Salisbury,  by  whom  he  had  several  children.  One 
son  died  in  infancy.  His  daughter  Mary  married  a 
Mr.  Hill,  and  removing  to  Georgia  died  there  a  few 
years  ago.  Christine,  another  daughter,  still  resides 
in  Salisbury.     His  other  son 

Col.  Charles  Frederick  Fisher 

was  the  noble  son  of  a  noble  sire.  He  was  born  in 
Salisbury  in  1816.  His  preparatory  education  was 
conducted  in  the  classical  schools  of  Salisbury,  and 
from  them  he  was  transferred  to  Yale  College.  He 
never  studied  any  of  the  professions,  but  devoted  his 
attention  to  agriculture  and  mining,  and  for  several 
years  was  associated  with  Dr.  Austin  in  the  publica- 
tion of  The  Western  Carolinian.  In  1854-55,  he  was 
a  member  of  the  State  Legislature  from  Rowan 
County.  He  succeeded  the  Hon.  John  M.  Morehead 
as  president  of  the  North  Carolina  Railroad,  in  1855, 
and  continued  to  preside  over  the  interests  of  that 
great  State  enterprise,  with  eminent  skill  and  ability, 
until   1861. 


324  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN    COUNTY 

When  the  alarm  of  war  rang  throughout  the  land 
in  1861,  Mr.  Fisher  at  once  proceeded  to  raise  and 
equip  a  regiment,  at  the  head  of  which  he  took  the 
field  in  the  early  part  of  July.  This  regiment,  the 
Sixth  North  CaroHna,  had  been  ordered  to  Winches- 
ter, Va.,  where  it  was  in  the  command  of  Gen.  Joseph 
E.  Johnston  when  the  army  of  the  Shenandoah  was 
ordered  to  I^Ianassas  to  reinforce  General  Beaure- 
gard. Owing  to  a  wreck  on  the  line  of  railway,  there 
was  a  delay  in  the  transportation  of  the  troops  which 
threatened  disaster,  and  gave  Colonel  Fisher  an  op- 
portunity to  render  an  important  service  by  repairing 
the  track  with  the  aid  of  the  trained  railroad  men  who 
composed  a  large  part  of  his  command.  As  a  reward 
for  his  efforts,  the  Sixth  Regiment  was  allowed  to 
embark  on  the  next  train  that  left  for  Manassas,  and 
reached  there  in  time  to  be  ordered  into  battle  by 
General  Beauregard  at  the  most  critical  period  of  the 
action,  when  their  help  was  greatly  needed,  shortly 
after  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  Colonel  Fisher 
then  led  his  regiment  almost  immediately  to  the  bril- 
liant charge  on  Rickett's  Battery,  which  destroyed  and 
captured  that  formidable  artillery,  and  proved  the 
turning  point  of  the  battle.  From  that  minute,  as  the 
official  reports  clearly  prove,  the  Federal  army  went 
down  to  defeat,  but  Colonel  Fisher  himself  died  in 
the  hour  of  his  triumph,  falling  gloriously  in  the  charge 
in  which  he  was  leading  his  men.  In  an  address  on 
this  subject,  delivered  in  Charlotte,  N.  C,  on  October 
12,     1901,    Hon.    John    S.    Henderson    says:     ''The 


cor,.    CHAS.    F.    riSHER 


OLD    FAMILIES    OF   ROWAN  325 

ground  where  the  Sixth  Regiment  fought  and  de- 
stroyed jMcDowell's  most  formidable  batteries  marked 
the  extreme  point  of  the  Federal  advance  towards 
Manassas.  This  is  the  truth  of  history,  and  Colonel 
Fisher  fell  in  the  forefront,  at  the  time  when  the  tide 
of  battle  had  been  first  turned  back,  and  victory  had 
been  assured  to  the  Confederate  army  by  the  heroic 
and  successful  fighting  of  himself  and  the  Sixth 
Regiment.'* 

It  was  a  gloomy  day  in  Salisbury  when  the  remains 
of  her  chivalrous  son  were  brought  home,  and  sorrow- 
fully laid  in  their  resting-place  in  the  Salisbury  ceme- 
tery  (Lutheran  graveyard). 

Colonel  Fisher  married  Elizabeth  Ruth  Caldwell, 
oldest  daughter  of  Hon.  David  F.  Caldwell,  in  July, 
1845,  by  whom  he  had  several  children,  who  were  left 
in  the  orphanage  to  the  care  of  his  sister,  Aliss 
Christine  Fisher.  The  names  of  these  children  are 
Frances,  Annie,  and  Frederick.  Miss  Frances  Fisher, 
under  the  nom  de  plume  of  Christian  Reid,  has 
achieved  an  enviable  reputation  as  a  writer  of  elegant 
fiction.  Her  volume,  entitled  the  ''Land  of  the  Sky," 
possesses  the  merit  of  being  a  faithful  delineation  of 
the  choicest  scenery  in  Western  North  Carolina, 
elegantly  and  attractively  written.  This  charming 
book  has  been  the  means  of  attracting  many  visitors  to 
our  beautiful  mountains,  and  has  rendered  it  quite 
fashionable  for  tourists  to  visit  this  region,  where  the 
loftiest  mountains  east  of  the  ^Mississippi  stand 
grouped  together  in  stately  grandeur. 


^26  history  of  rowan  county 

The  Craig  Family 

The  traditions  of  this  family  relate  that  their 
ancestors  came  direct  from  Scotland  to  Rowan  County, 
without  stopping,  as  most  of  the  families  did,  in  the 
Northern  States.  They  were  adherents  of  "Prince 
Charles"  in  his  efforts  to  regain  the  throne  of  his 
fathers,  and  after  the  fatal  battle  of  Culloden,  April 
i6,  1746,  they  deemed  it  expedient  to  seek  safety  in 
America. 

The  name  "Craig,"  in  the  Scottish  dialect,  signifies 
a  sharp,  high  rock  or  crag,  and  was  probably  given 
to  the  family,  or  assumed  by  them,  because  their  hall 
or  castle  was  situated  upon  some  high  rock,  thus  se- 
curing safety  to  life  and  property  in  the  days  of  vio- 
lence and  lawlessness.  In  the  sixteenth  century  John 
Craig  was  one  of  the  Scottish  Reformers  and  a  coad- 
jutor of  John  Knox.  It  was  John  Craig  that  pro- 
claimed the  banns  of  marriage  between  Queen  Mary 
and  James  Bothwell,  but  he  openly  denounced  their 
union.  Sir  Thomas  Craig,  of  Aberdeenshire,  was  a 
distinguished  lawyer  and  Judge,  who  lived  from  1538 
to  1608,  and  through  his  oldest  son.  Sir  Lewis  Craig, 
he  left  descendants,  among  whom  are  several  well- 
known  names  in  the  list  of  Scottish  lawyers.  It  is 
impossible  at  this  day  to  connect  the  Rowan  family 
with  that  of  the  Reformer  or  Jurist,  but  these  his- 
torical personages  living  three  hundred  years  ago  in 
Scotland  show  that  the  name  comes  down  from  olden 
times.  The  Rowan  family  seem  to  have  been  ad- 
herents of  the  Church  of  England,  as  is  evinced  both 


Mrs.  Frances  Christine   Fisher  Tiernan 
(christian   reid) 


OLD    FAMILIES    OF   ROWAN  327 

by  family  tradition  and  from  existence  of  an  old 
Book  of  Common  Prayer,  Cambridge  edition  of  1766, 
still  in  the  possession  of  the  family,  with  family  rec- 
ords on  its  flyleaves. 

About  one  and  a  half  miles  from  the  Trading  Ford, 
near  the  road  leading  to  Salisbury,  is  a  place  still 
known  as  "Craige's  Old  Field,"  where  the  ruins  of  old 
chimneys  are  still  to  be  seen.  Here  Archibald  Craige 
and  Mary,  his  wife,  settled  about  1750.  The  title 
deeds  taken  out  before  the  establishment  of  Rowan 
County  are  not  registered  here,  but  were  probably 
registered  at  old  Anson  courthouse,  at  Mount  Pleas- 
ant. But  as  early  as  1756  we  find  deeds  from  James 
Carter  and  Hugh  Foster,  Township  Trustees,  to 
Archibald  Craige,  for  lots  in  Salisbury.  In  1758  there 
is  a  deed  from  Carter  &  Foster  to  Mary  Craige.  In 
the  files  of  inventories  in  the  Clerk's  office  we  learn 
that  Archibald  Craige  died  May  20,  1758,  and  that 
Mary  Craige  administered  on  his  estate.  In  1764 
there  is  the  first  mention  of  James  Craige  as  the  pur- 
chaser of  some  lots  in  Salisbury,  and  in  1779  there  is 
the  record  of  a  grant  from  the  State  to  James  and 
David  Craige  for  five  hundred  acres  of  land  on  the 
south  side  of  the  Yadkin  River.  Summing  up  their 
grants  and  purchases  we  find  that  James  and  David 
Craige  were  the  owners,  jointly  and  severally,  of 
nearly  two  thousand  acres  of  land  on  the  main 
Yadkin,  the  south  fork  of  Yadkin,  and  Abbott's 
Creek.  Putting  these  traditions  and  records  together, 
we  conclude  that  Archibald  and  Mary  Craige  were  the 
founders  of  the  Rowan  family;  that  when  Archibald 


328  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN   COUNTY 

Craige  died,  in  1758,  his  sons  being  too  young,  his 
widow  became  administratrix  of  the  estate,  and  that 
the  two  sons  —  James,  the  elder,  and  David,  the 
younger — were  grown  men  before  the  Revolutionary 
War.  James  was  the  purchaser  of  land  in  1764,  and 
must  have  been  twenty-one  years  old  at  that  time.  In  a 
bundle  of  settlement  papers  near  the  close  of  the 
Revolution  we  find  the  name  of  James  Craige  as 
Sheriff  of  Rowan  County.  We  do  not  find  that  he 
ever  married  here.  Perhaps  he  removed  to  some 
other  part  of  the  country. 

From  the  record  in  the  old  Prayer  Book  we  learn 
that  David  Craige  was  married  to  Polly  Foster,  July 
23,  1776,  nineteen  days  after  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence. Hugh  Foster,  one  of  the  township 
trustees,  writes  himself  as  a  farmer,  and  perhaps  ]\Irs, 
David  Craige  was  his  daughter.  This  David  Craige  is 
the  one  mentioned  in  Colonel  \\'heeler's  Sketches  (Vol. 
I,  page  80),  as  a  lieutenant  in  Capt.  William  Temple 
Cole's  Company  in  1776.  Colonel  \\'heeler  further 
states  that  David  Craige  "was  distinguished  for  his 
bravery  and  patriotic  daring"  in  those  stirring  times. 
But  the  history  of  those  daring  deeds  has  been  allowed 
to  sink  into  oblivion,  with  those  of  his  brave  com- 
panions in  the  great  struggle  for  independence.  He 
died  in  November,  1784. 

The  children  of  David  and  Polly  Craige,  as  recorded 
in  the  old  Prayer  Book,  were :  James  Craige,  born  Feb- 
ruary 2,  1778;  David  Craige,  born  January  27,  1780; 
Lucy  and  Mary,  born  April,  1782 ;  and  Thomas  Craige. 
born  August  5,  1784. 


OLD   FAMILIES   OF   ROWAN  329 

James  Craige  settled  on  the  old  Mocksville  Road, 
six  miles  from  Salisbury,  where  some  of  his  descend- 
ants are  still  residing. 

Thomas  Craige  lived  near  Dr.  Chunn's  place,  not  far 
from  the  old  Mocksville  Road,  and  married  Susan 
Jones,  the  sister  of  Judge  Rowland  Jones,  late  of 
Louisiana.  He  died  in  1845,  ^^^  ^^^^  two  children — 
Thomas,  who  died  in  Shreveport;  and  Mary,  who  is 
still  living  and  teaching  in  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

David  Craige,  Jr.,  married  his  cousin,  Mary  Foster, 
and  lived  on  the  south  fork  of  the  Yadkin,  at  the  place 
now  the  residence  of  James  Hudson.  His  children 
were:  Robert  Newton,  Samuel,  John,  and  Burton 
Craige.  Robert  Newton  Craige  lived  at  the  home  of 
his  father,  on  South  River,  and  died  just  before  the 
late  war,  leaving  two  daughters.  Samuel  left  two 
children — Sally,  who  married  Robert  Chunn  and 
moved  to  Arkansas ;  and  Clitus,  who  was  killed  at  the 
battle  of  Cedar  Run  in  Virginia.  John  Craige  left 
two  sons  and  a  daughter,  the  latter  of  whom.  Miss 
Bettie  Craige,  lived  with  her  uncle,  Hon.  Burton 
Craige,  in  Salisbury,  for  a  number  of  years. 

Hon.  Burton  Craige 

the  youngest  son  of  David  Craige,  Jr.,  was  born  in 
Rowan  County,  March  13,  181 1,  at  the  family  resi- 
dence on  the  south  fork  of  the  Yadkin,  a  few  miles 
above  the  point,  or  junction  of  the  two  rivers.  His 
early  days  were  spent  on  the  farm  and  in  attending 
the  schools  which  the  neighborhood  afforded.  About 
1823-25,  he  attended  a  classical  school  taught  in  SaHs- 


330  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

bury  by  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Otis  Freeman.  From  this 
school  he  went  to  the  University  of  North  CaroHna, 
where  he  was  graduated  in  the  Class  of  1829.  Re- 
turning to  Rowan,  he  for  three  years  edited  The 
Western  Carolinian,  and  studied  law  under  David  F. 
Caldwell,  Esq.,  and  was  licensed  in  1832.  The  same 
year  of  his  licensure  he  was  elected  to  the  Legislature 
from  the  Borough  of  Salisbury.  The  Borough  em- 
braced nearly  the  same  territory  comprised  in  the 
present  Salisbury  Township,  and  was  a  relic  of  the 
old  Colonial  times  when  Newbern,  Edenton,  \Mlming- 
ton,  Bath,  Halifax,  and  Salisbury  were  each  entitled 
to  a  representative  in  the  Assembly.  The  convention 
which  met  in  Raleigh,  June  4,  1835,  to  amend  the  con- 
stitution of  North  Carolina,  abolished  Borough  repre- 
sentation, and  the  counties  thenceforth  sent  represen- 
tatives according  to  population.  In  the  old  Borough 
system  the  free  negroes  were  allowed,  by  sufferance, 
without  specific  legal  right,  to  vote  at  elections,  but 
under  the  revised  constitution  this  was  forbidden.  ]\Ir. 
Craige  was  wont  to  describe  with  much  zest  how  the 
different  political  Parties  under  the  old  system  were  in 
the  habit  of  herding  and  penning  the  free  negroes,  and 
low  white  voters  also,  in  the  "Round  Bottom"  and 
elsewhere,  guarding,  feeding,  and  treating  them  for 
several  days  before  elections,  and  then  marching  them 
into  town  and  ''voting"  them  en  masse.  Sometimes 
the  opposite  Party  would  make  a  raid  upon  one  of 
these  pens,  at  the  last  moment,  and  carry  off  their 
voters  in  triumph.  These  abuses,  among  other  things, 
led  to  the  abolition  of  the  Borough  system. 


HOX.    RL"KTO\    CRAlGtC 


OLD    FAMILIES    OF   ROWAN  33 1 

In  1834,  ^Ir.  Craige  was  elected  to  the  Assembly  by 
the  County  of  Rowan.  In  1836  he  was  united  in  mar- 
riage to  ]\Iiss  Elizabeth  P.  Erwin,  daughter  of  Col. 
James  Erwin,  of  Burke  County,  and  great  grand- 
daughter of  Gen.  Matthew  Locke,  of  Rowan.  The 
same  year  ]\Ir.  Craige,  being  in  a  feeble  state  of  health, 
visited  Europe,  and  being  much  benefited  returned 
home  and  devoted  himself  to  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession. During  these  years  he  gathered  around  him 
a  host  of  friends,  and  his  practice  in  the  Courts  of 
Rowan  was  extensive.  He  possessed  those  qualities 
that  endeared  him  to  the  people — plainness  of  speech, 
simplicity  of  manners,  and  familiarity  in  intercourse, 
without  the  semblance  of  condescension.  He  remem- 
bered the  names  and  the  faces  of  people,  and  the 
humblest  man  whom  Mr.  Craige  had  ever  known 
would  approach  him  with  perfect  assurance  of  recog- 
nition and  cordial  greeting.  I  do  not  know  that  Mr. 
Craige  was  peculiarly  successful  as  a  farmer  himself, 
but  he  could  talk  of  farming  and  of  all  the  interests 
of  the  farmer  with  far  more  intelligence,  fluency,  and 
accuracy  than  the  farmer  could  himself.  He  was  as 
perfectly  at  ease  in  the  homes  of  the  humblest  as  he 
was  polite  and  courteous  in  the  parlors  of  the  rich  and 
fashionable.  He  was  thus  eminently  qualified  for  a 
successful  politician,  and  when  in  1853  ^^  received 
the  nomination  for  Congress,  he  was  elected,  as  he  was 
also  in  1855-57-59 ;  and  he  was  a  member  of  Con- 
gress when  the  late  war  began.  When  the  convention 
of  North  Carolina  was  called,  in  1 861,  to  determine  the 
course  North  Carolina  should  pursue,  ^Ir.  Craige  was 


332  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

sent  there  from  Rowan  County,  and  on  the  twentieth 
of  May  he  offered  the  Ordinance  of  Secession,  which 
was  adopted,  and  which  placed  the  State  of  North 
CaroHna  along  with  her  sister  States  of  the  South  in 
the  great  struggle  against  the  Federal  Government. 
By  this  convention  he  was  chosen  as  a  member  of  the 
Confederate  Congress,  along  with  \\^  N.  H.  Smith, 
Thomas  Ruffin,  T.  D.  McDowell,  A.  W.  Venable,  J.  M. 
Morehead,  R.  C.  Puryear,  and  A.  T.  Davidson.  After 
this  he  retired  to  private  life,  though  watching  with 
eager  interest  the  mighty  struggle  in  which  his  country 
was  embarked.  And  when  at  last  the  flag  which  bore 
the  blazonry  of  the  ''Stars  and  Bars"  was  furled,  he 
declined  to  take  any  further  part  in  national  affairs. 
He  would  not  apply  for  the  removal  of  his  *'dis- 
abilities."  He  still  practised  his  profession,  studied 
the  history  and  recounted  the  deeds  of  former  days, 
and  sought  repose  from  the  strife  of  public  affairs  in 
the  bosom  of  his  family.  He  died  in  Concord,  in  the 
house  of  his  son-in-law,  Mr.  A.  B.  Young,  where  he 
had  gone  to  attend  the  Cabarrus  Court,  December  30, 
1875.  His  remains  were  laid  to  rest  in  Oak  Grove 
Cemetery  in  Salisbury, 

In  stature  Mr.  Craige  was  herculean — six  feet  six 
inches  in  height,  and  of  corresponding  proportions. 
Fearless  and  positive  in  the  assertion  of  his  convic- 
tions, and  with  a  mien  and  physical  form  that  might 
have  awakened  the  envy  and  excited  the  fear  of  the 
bravest  knight  of  the  days  of  chivalry,  he  instinctively 
commanded  the  respect  of  his  associates,  while  at  the 


HON'.     KERR    CRAlGlC 


OLD    FAMILIES    OF   ROWAN  333 

same  time  he  charmed  them  with  his  frank,  affable, 
and  jovial  disposition. 

Mr.  Craige  left  three  sons  and  two  daughters  who, 
with  their  mother,  still  survive. 

James,  the  eldest,  was  a  cadet  at  West  Point,  at  the 
opening  of  the  war,  but  he  returned  in  haste  to  his 
home,  entered  the  Confederate  army,  and  rose  to  the 
rank  of  IMajor  in  the  infantry. 

Kerr,  the  second  son,  was  in  the  University  of 
North  Carolina  when  the  war  began,  but  entered  the 
calvary  service  in  Gen.  Rufus  Barringer's  brigade. 
He  served  through  the  war,  and  is  now  a  lawyer  in 
Salisbury. 

Frank,  the  youngest,  also  entered  the  Army  and 
served  through  the  war.  He  now  resides  in  Ten- 
nessee. 

His  elder  daughter  is  the  wife  of  Mr.  Alfred  B. 
Young,  of  Concord,  and  his  younger,  the  wife  of 
Mr.  John  P.  Allison,  of  Concord. 

The  Stokes  Family 

The  Hon.  John  Stokes  lived  in  Rowan  County  (now 
Davie),  near  Richmond  Hill,  the  residence  of  Rich- 
mond Pearson.  He  was  a  colonel  in  the  Revolu- 
tionary army,  and  lost  his  right  hand  in  the  affair  of 
Buford's  defeat  in  the  Waxhaws.  He  had  a  silver 
cup  or  ''fist"  made,  which  he  wore,  and  in  his  speeches 
at  the  Bar  he  would  sometimes  bring  down  this  silver 
fist  with  a  ringing  sound. 

He  married  EHzabeth,  the  daughter  of  Richmond 
Pearson,    and   half-sister    of    the    late    Chief    Justice 


334  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

Pearson.  He  had  a  son  named  Richmond  Pearson 
Stokes,  who  was  also  a  lawyer.  Colonel  Stokes  was 
at  one  time  United  States  District  Judge.  He  died  in 
1801. 

Gov.  MONTFORD  StOKES 

was  for  a  long  period  a  resident  of  Rowan  County. 
He  was  born  about  1760,  and  was  in  the  Revolutionary 
army,  and  was  taken  prisoner  near  Norfolk  in  1776, 
and  confined  for  several  months  in  a  prison  ship.  For 
a  number  of  years  he  was  Clerk  of  Rowan  Superior 
Court,  and  Clerk  of  the  State  Senate.  He  was  elected 
by  the  General  Assembly  to  the  United  States  Senate, 
but  declined  to  serve.  In  1816  he  was  again  elected 
Senator  of  the  United  States,  and  served  until  1823.  In 
1 83 1  he  was  appointed  by  General  Jackson,  Indian 
Agent  in  Arkansas.  He  removed  to  that  State,  and 
died  there  in  1842. 

The  historian  of  North  Carolina,  Colonel  Aloore, 
says  of  him,  that  "Few  men  were  so  popular  as  he, 
and  his  wit  and  humor  were  unceasing  in  their  flow." 
Governor  Stokes  removed  from  Salisbury  about  181 2, 
and  settled  in  Wilkesboro.  He  was  first  married  to 
Mary,  the  daughter  of  Col.  Henry  Irwin,  who  fell  at 
the  battle  of  Germantown.  By  her  he  had  one 
daughter,  named  Adelaide,  who  became  the  wife  of 
Henry  Chambers,  of  Rowan.  Also  a  son  named  Mont- 
ford  S.  Stokes,  who  was  a  Major  of  the  North  Caro- 
lina Regiment  in  the  War  with  Mexico.  At  the  open- 
ing of  the  late  War  between  the  States,  ^lontford  S. 
Stokes  was  Colonel  of  the  First  North  Carolina  State 


OLD    FAMILIES    OF   ROWAN  335 

Troops.     Colonel  Stokes  was  killed  at  Ellyson's  Mill, 
near  Richmond,  June  26,  1862. 

His  second  wife  was  Rachel  ^Montgomery,  the 
daughter  of  Hugh  Montgomery,  of  Salisbury.  By  her 
he  had  several  children — Hugh  'M.  Stokes,  David 
Stokes,  Thomas  Jefferson  Stokes,  and  several 
daughters. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 


THE  WAR  OF    1812-I4 

In  tracing  the  history  of  Rowan  County,  it  will  not 
be  expected  that  we  shall  enter  into  a  detail  of  the 
great  public  affairs  of  the  United  States.  And  yet  we 
must  glance  at  them  in  order  to  account  for  events 
that  took  place  in  this  county.  The  Barbary  States, 
on  the  north  coast  of  Africa,  for  a  while  obstructed 
the  commerce  of  the  United  States  in  the  Mediterra- 
nean Sea,  and  this  led  to  a  war  with  TripoH,  in  1803,  in 
which  Commodore  Preble,  Lieut.  Stephen  Decatur, 
and  Commodore  Barron  took  a  conspicuous  part,  and 
brought  the  Bashaw  to  make  a  treaty  of  peace,  which 
was  concluded  in  1805.  But  this  matter  was  scarcely 
settled  when  a  greater  difficulty  arose.  England  and 
France  were  then  at  war,  and  the  United  States  be- 
came involved  in  regard  to  her  commerce.  By  "Orders 
in  Council,"  the  English  government  declared  all 
vessels  conveying  produce  from  the  United  States  to 
Europe  legal  prizes.  Again,  in  1806,  England  de- 
clared several  European  ports  in  a  state  of  blockade. 
Napoleon,  by  his  "Berlin  Decree"  and  "Milan  Decree," 
forbade  the  introduction  of  English  goods  into  any 
part  of  Europe,  and  confiscated  the  cargoes  of  all  such 
vessels  as  should  submit  to  be  searched  by  the  Eng- 
lish.   But  England  was  in  need  of  sailors,  and  as  many 


338  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

of  them  were  supposed  to  be  employed  on  American 
ships  she  insisted  upon  searching  the  ships  of  the 
United  States.  In  vain  did  America  protest.  The 
''Queen  of  the  Seas"  held  our  power  in  contempt,  and 
continued  to  search  all  American  vessels  by  force.  As 
the  only  course  left,  the  Congress  of  the  United  States 
passed  the  ''Embargo  Act,"  by  which  all  United 
States  trading  vessels  were  prohibited  from  leaving 
their  ports.  This  Act  operated  not  only  to  the  dis- 
advantage of  England,  but  was  disastrous  to  the 
shipping  interests  of  this  country.  All  foreign  com- 
merce was  destroyed,  and  the  people  were  left  to  their 
own  resources.  Coffee  and  tea,  silks,  broadcloths, 
ribbons,  and  all  such  commodities,  became  as  rare  as 
they  were  in  the  late  Confederate  States.  This  caused 
distress  and  murmuring,  especially  in  New  England, 
where  most  of  the  shipping  was  owned.  In  the  mean- 
time. President  Jefferson  went  out  of  office,  and  James 
Madison  was  inaugurated  in  1809.  Soon  after  ^ladi- 
son's  inauguration  the  British  Minister  at  Washing- 
ton gave  assurances  that  England's  "Orders  in 
Council"  would  be  revoked.  Upon  this  i\Ir.  Madison 
issued  a  Proclamation — April  19,  1809 — that  the  non- 
intercourse  Act  would  be  suspended  after  the  tenth  of 
the  following  June.  This  Proclamation  produced 
great  joy  throughout  the  whole  country,  and  the  wave 
of  gladness  rolled  over  the  land  and  reached  the  quiet 
town  of  Salisbury.  The  citizens  of  Rowan  had  a  gen- 
eral parade  in  Salisbury,  followed  by  an  illumination 
at  night.  Capt.  John  Beard  had  an  immense  frame- 
work, something  like  old-time  warping  bars,  erected  in 


THE    WAR   OF    I«I2  339 

front  of  his  house,  with  candles  blazing  on  every  part 
of  the  structure.  At  the  foot  of  it  was  a  table  filled 
with  decanters  and  bottles  containing  choice  liquors, 
and  all  his  friends  were  invited  to  drink  to  the  general 
joy.  Air.  Edward  Chambers,  son  of  the  elder  Max- 
well Chambers,  made  a  speech  to  the  ladies,  in  which 
he  assured  them  that  now  the  embargo  was  raised  they 
would  have  less  work  to  do,  inasmuch  as  they  could 
purchase  goods  from  Europe.  But  all  this  joy  was 
premature.  The  good  news  had  hardly  reached  the 
most  distant  parts  of  the  country  before  President 
Madison  was  assured  that  the  British  Minister  had 
exceeded  his  instructions,  and  that  the  "Orders  in 
Council"  would  not  be  revoked.  And  so  the  President 
at  once  issued  another  Proclamation  countermanding 
the  first.  And  so  matters  went  on,  English  ships 
searching  American  vessels  wherever  found,  with  now 
and  then  a  naval  battle. 

In  the  meantime  two  remarkable  natural  phenomena 
occurred  that  filled  the  minds  of  many  of  our  people 
with  foreboding  fears.  The  first  of  these  was  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  celebrated  comet  of  1811.  This  comet 
was  the  most  remarkable  in  appearance  of  all  that  have 
been  seen  in  the  present  century.  While  its  nucleus 
was  only  four  hundred  and  twenty-eight  miles  in  di- 
ameter, it  had  a  tail  one  hundred  and  thirty-two  mil- 
lions of  miles  in  length,  and  had  it  been  coiled  around 
the  earth  like  a  serpent,  it  would  have  wrapped  around 
it  more  than  five  thousand  times.  This  comet  has  a 
period  of  thirty-three  hundred  and  eighty-three  years, 
and  had  not  visited  our  heavens  since  B.  C.  1572.  Then 


340  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

it  may  have  heralded  the  birth  of  ]^Ioses,  and  Amram 
and  Jochebed  may  have  gazed  at  it  in  wonder,  and  the 
cruel  Pharaoh  may  have  beheld  it  with  terror,  from  the 
banks  of  the  Xile.  Be  this  as  it  may,  many  of  the  people 
of  Rowan  County  were  very  much  frightened  at  its 
terrible  appearance,  and  regarded  it  as  the  harbinger 
of  evil.  It  appeared  in  June,  1811,  and  continued  to 
blaze  in  the  western  sky  until  November.  It  is  related 
that  late  one  afternoon  in  November,  a  terrible  ex- 
plosion was  heard,  like  a  peal  of  thunder.  But  the 
sky  was  clear  and  serene.  After  this  the  comet  was 
seen  no  more.  Of  course  there  was  no  connection 
between  the  explosion  and  the  disappearance  of  the 
comet;  but  the  common  people  naturally  connected 
them  together. 

On  the  eleventh  of  December  another  remarkable 
event  occurred.  At  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  an 
earthquake  occurred,  that  shook  the  houses,  toppled 
brick  from  the  chimneys,  and  caused  hanging  furniture 
to  sway  backward  and  forward  like  a  pendulum,  and 
the  water  would  splash  out  of  vessels  that  stood  on  the 
floor.  The  period  of  agitation  lasted  from  November 
until  April,  1812.  Sometimes  there  would  be  two  or 
three  shocks  in  a  day,  and  then  only  one  every  two  or 
three  weeks.  Some  of  the  people  would  feel  as  if  sea- 
sick, and  all  of  them  had  awful  apprehension  of  some 
dreadful  catastrophe  impending. 

Meanwhile  public  affairs  were  drifting  towards  a 
declaration  of  war.  The  ultimatum  of  the  British 
government  was  referred  in  Congress  to  the  Com- 
mittee of  Foreign  Relations,  of  which  John  C.  Calhoun 


THE    WAR   OF    l8l2  34I 

was  chairman.  This  Committee  reported  in  favor  of 
a  declaration  of  war.  The  bill  to  this  end  was 
adopted  by  Congress,  and  received  the  signature  of 
President  ^ladison  in  June,  1812.  The  plan  of  the 
war,  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  was  to  seize  the 
British  Provinces  in  Canada.  This  was  looked  upon 
as  an  easy  method  of  bringing  England  to  terms,  while 
little  was  expected  from  the  infant  navy.  As  it  turned 
out,  the  navy  of  the  United  States  made  a  brilliant  rec- 
ord of  heroism,  while  disaster  after  disaster  character- 
ized the  land  forces. 

But  to  return  to  Rowan  County,  we  learn  that  the 
military  spirit  pervaded  the  whole  community  in  1812 
and  181 3.  Great  volunteer  meetings  were  held,  and 
companies  and  regiments  paraded  in  the  streets  of 
Salisbury.  Patriotic  speeches  were  made,  and  volun- 
teers stepped  into  the  ranks  of  the  recruiting  officers. 
Barracks  were  erected  on  the  eastern  side  of  Crane 
Creek,  on  the  plantation  owned  by  the  late  Samuel 
Reeves,  and  the  barracks  were  under  the  command  of 
Col.  James  \\'elborn,  of  Wilkes  County,  Most  of  the 
companies  were  sheltered  in  cabins  erected  for  the 
purpose,  but  it  is  remembered  that  Captain  Cloud's 
Company,  from  Stokes  County,  preferred  to  live  in 
tents.  Capt.  Jerry  Cloud  was  the  father  of  the  Hon. 
J.  M.  Cloud,  and  died  near  Norfolk,  in  the  encamp- 
ment with  his  Company,  from  the  ravages  of  disease 
superinduced  by  measles. 

Besides  Colonel  \\>lborn,  in  command,  the  officers 
were  Captain  \\'ard,  Lieutenant  Bearing,  and  Paymas- 
ter Glenn.     I  suppose  the  proper  title  for  the  barracks 


342  HISTORY  OF   ROWAX   COUNTY 

would  be  a  "Camp  of  Instruction."  Recruits  of  vol- 
unteers and  enlisted  men  came  here  from  all  Western 
North  Carolina,  from  South  Carolina,  and  from 
Georgia.  Here  they  were  drilled,  embodied,  and  sent 
off  to  the  army  on  the  borders  of  Canada.  Some  of 
them  went  to  Sackett's  Harbor.  They  marched  to 
Portsmouth,  in  Mrginia,  and  went  thence  in  trans- 
ports as  near  to  Lake  Champlain  as  they  could 
go  by  water.  The  camp  remained  in  active  operation 
until  late  in  1813.  When  news  of  a  victory  by  Com- 
modore Perry,  or  Capt.  Isaac  Hull,  or  the  defense  of 
Fort  ]\Ieigs  by  the  gallant  Harrison,  or  any  other  en- 
couraging news  came,  the  event  was  duly  celebrated 
at  the  barracks,  or  by  a  feast  or  dance  in  some  of  the 
parlors  of  the  town.  There  may  have  been  thanks- 
giving services  in  some  of  the  churches  in  the  country, 
but  Salisbury  had  no  church  and  no  minister  in  those 
days. 

While  the  war  was  raging  on  the  northern  frontier, 
the  Creek  Indians  in  Georgia  and  Alabama  took  up 
arms  against  the  white  settlers.  The  celebrated 
Tecumseh  made  a  visit  to  the  Southern  Indians  in  the 
spring  of  1812,  and  excited  them  to  resistance.  The 
white  inhabitants  on  the  Alabama  River,  in  August, 
1813,  having  taken  refuge  in  Fort  ]\Iimms,  in  the  Ten- 
saw  Settlement,  were  attacked  by  the  Indians,  under 
their  chief,  Billy  Weatherford,  and  out  of  the  three 
hundred  men,  women,  and  children  there  assembled, 
only  seventeen  escaped.  This  was  August  30,  181 3. 
In  this  massacre,  Dr.  Spruce  Macay  Osborne,  son  of 
Col.  Adlai  Osborne,  then  a  surgeon  in  the  army,  was 


THE    WAR   OF    l8l2  343 

killed.  This  unprovoked  massacre  aroused  the  whole 
country,  and  an  army  of  thirty-five  hundred  men  was 
raised,  chiefly  in  Tennessee,  and  placed  under  the  com- 
mand of  Gen.  Andrew  Jackson.  In  the  meantime,  the 
militia  from  the  Salisbury  Congressional  District  were 
ordered  to  rendezvous  in  Salisbury  on  the  first  day  of 
January,  1814,  in  order  to  raise  a  regiment  to  march 
against  the  Creek  Indians.  It  rained  and  snowed  all 
that  day,  but  notwithstanding  the  weather  the  militia 
flocked  in,  and  were  sheltered  for  the  night  in  the 
houses  of  the  Salisbury  people.  On  the  next  day 
they  were  transferred  to  the  barracks,  and  the  work 
of  enlistment  went  on.  Some  volunteered,  others  were 
"detached,"  until  a  regiment  was  formed,  which  was 
placed  under  the  command  of  Col.  Jesse  A.  Pearson. 
Gen.  Joseph  Graham  was  his  superior  oflicer  in  com- 
mand of  the  expedition.  To  this  regiment  the  ladies 
of  Salisbury,  headed  by  Mrs.  Moses  A.  Locke,  pre- 
sented a  handsome  flag  of  blue  silk,  bordered  with 
fringes  and  tassels  of  gold.  In  the  center  it  bore  the 
emblem  of  the  United  States,  the  eagle,  painted  by 
Wayne  Evans,  the  son-in-law  of  Barna  Krider.  Upon 
it  was  also  painted  a  motto  composed  by  Mrs.  Locke, 
as  follows :  "Let  not  the  rage  of  war  obliterate  honor 
and  humanity  towards  the  females  of  our  savage  foe." 
This  flag  was  presented  to  the  regiment  by  Mr.  John 
Lewis  Beard,  son  of  Capt.  John  Beard,  in  behalf  of  the 
ladies,  at  the  old  race-track.  The  Rowan  Company  in 
this  regiment  was  commanded  by  Capt.  Jacob  Krider, 
of  Salisbury.  James  Gillespie  was  a  lieutenant,  and 
John  Faust,  ensign.     Many  hearts  were  sad  in  Rowan 


344  HISTORY   OF   ROWAX   COUNTY 

County  when  this  regiment  marched  out  of  SaUsbury 
towards  Alabama.  But,  aside  from  the  fatigues  and 
dangers  of  the  march,  they  were  never  in  peril.  While 
they  were  on  their  way  to  join  General  Jackson,  that 
intrepid  chief  had  met  and  annihilated  the  Creek  war- 
riors at  Tohopeka,  in  the  Horseshoe  Bend  of  the  Tal- 
lapoosa River.  This  was  March  27,  1814.  After 
this  victory  the  submission  of  the  Indians  was  com- 
plete, and  our  troops  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  turn 
around  and  march  home  again.  \^ery  few  incidents 
of  this  expedition  have  been  handed  down.  Tradi- 
tion, however,  relates  Captain  Krider's  method  of  re- 
ducing a  refractory  and  disorderly  soldier  into  good 
behavior.  He  had  such  a  soldier  in  his  Company  and 
he  used  all  the  plans  he  could  think  of  for  this  soldier's 
reformation.  At  last,  while  encamped  on  the  banks 
of  one  of  the  Georgia  or  Alabama  rivers,  a  new  idea 
struck  the  captain.  He  had  a  forked  stake  driven 
down  near  the  bank  of  the  river,  and  procuring  a  long 
pole,  he  tied  the  refractor}^  soldier  to  one  end  of  it  by 
his  hands  and  feet,  something  after  the  style  of  a  dip 
net,  and  balancing  the  pole  on  the  stake,  he  caused  him 
to  be  let  down  into  the  water.  As  this  was  about 
May,  in  a  warm  latitude,  it  first  seemed  to  amuse  the 
soldier,  and  he  laughed  at  the  experiment.  But  his 
open  mouth  caused  him  to  ship  too  much  water,  and 
as  the  process  of  dipping  went  on  inexorably  and 
seemed  about  to  be  endless,  he  was  at  last  subjugated, 
confessed  his  errors,  and  promised  to  give  no  more 
trouble.  He  kept  his  promise.  The  names  of  Captain 


THE    WAR   OF    l8l2  345 

Krider's  Company  are  on  file  in  a  printed  volume  in 
the  clerk's  ofiice  in  Salisbury. 

In  the  meantime  the  war  was  drawing  to  a  close,  and 
a  treaty  of  peace  was  agreed  upon  at  Ghent,  December 
24,  1814,  ratified  by  the  Prince  Regent  of  England, 
the  twenty-eighth  of  the  same  month,  and  by  the 
United  States,  the  seventeenth  of  February,  1815. 
The  ratification  of  the  treaty  was  celebrated  in  Sahs- 
bury  on  the  fourth  of  March,  181 5,  by  processions, 
speeches,  and  by  a  monster  ball.  The  people  danced  all 
night,  and  at  sunrise  the  next  morning  Mr.  Hugh 
Horah  rang  the  courthouse  bell  as  a  signal  for  break- 
ing  up. 

At  the  close  of  the  war,  everything  settled  down  into 
the  peaceful  routine  of  life.  But  the  flame  of  patri- 
otism burned  brightly  in  the  hearts  of  the  people.  Hav- 
ing made  sacrifices  to  maintain  their  rights  as  a  free 
people,  they  endeavored  to  keep  themselves  reminded 
of  the  value  of  their  heritage.  Hence  they  celebrated 
two  national  festivals  annually.  One  of  these  was  the 
twenty-second  of  February,  the  birthday  of  Washing- 
ton. The  death  of  this  eminent  man  occurred  on  the 
fourteenth  of  December,  1799,  and  for  a  quarter  of  a 
century  afterwards  there  were  many  still  living  who 
had  seen  the  "Father  of  His  Country."  His  distin- 
guished services  were  not  forgotten,  and  the  people 
loved  to  do  honor  to  his  memory.  It  is  a  pity  that  the 
lapse  of  nearly  a  century  has  so  far  displaced  his 
image  from  the  memory  of  our  people  that  they  have 
forgotten  even  to  notice  the  day. 


346  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

The  other  anniversary  was  the  Fourth  of  July. 
Upon  this  occasion  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
was  read,  patriotic  speeches  were  made,  toasts  were 
drunk,  and  as  a  matter  of  course  the  ceremonies  wound 
up  with  a  ball,  at  some  spacious  hall  or  public  parlor. 

From  these  scenes  we  will  turn  to  some  of  another 
character,  in  our  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER  XXV 


AFRICAN    SLAVERY 

The  history  of  society  in  Rowan  County  would  not 
be  complete  without  a  glimpse  at  the  system  of  do- 
mestic slavery  as  it  existed  here  from  the  first  establish- 
ment of  the  county.  The  early  settlers  were  slave- 
holders, and  on  the  register's  volumes  you  will  find 
here  and  there  a  "Bill  of  Sale"  for  a  negro  slave,  and 
in  the  volumes  of  Wills  you  will  see  how  the  fathers  of 
the  early  days  bequeathed  the  negro  man  Pompey, 
or  Caesar,  or  Ned,  or  Joe,  to  one  son,  and  Scipio,  or 
Hannibal,  or  Cato,  or  Adam  to  another  son,  while  their 
daughters  received  bequests  of  negro  girls  and  women, 
by  the  names  of  Bet  and  Sal,  Luse  and  Dinah.  The 
question  may  sometimes  have  been  raised  in  their 
minds  whether  it  was  right  to  hold  men  and  women  in 
perpetual  slavery;  but  when  they  opened  their  Bibles 
and  read  how  Abraham  bought  slaves  and  had  slaves 
born  in  his  house ;  and  how  Moses,  by  divine  direction, 
provided  for  the  release  and  redemption  of  Hebrew 
slaves,  but  left  no  provision  for  the  release  of  the  slave 
of  foreign  birth,  but  allowed  him  to  be  bought  and  sold 
at  the  will  of  their  masters ;  and  when  they  read  how 
slavery  was  recognized  by  Christ  and  his  apostles,  their 
doubts  as  to  the  rightfulness  of  the  institution  in  the 
sight  of  God  vanished.     They  did  not  feel  themselves 


348  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN    COUNTY 

responsible  for  its  introduction  among  them.  That 
had  been  accompHshed  a  hundred  years  and  more  be- 
fore their  time,  when  the  Dutch  sold  slaves  to  the 
Virginians  at  Jamestown,  in  1620,  or  when  citizens  of 
Massachusetts,  in  1636,  built  a  slave  ship  at  IMarble- 
head  and  sent  it  to  Africa  for  slaves.  Bancroft  re- 
lates that  the  representatives  of  the  people  ordered  the 
negroes  to  be  restored  to  their  native  land,  and  im- 
posed a  fine  twice  the  price  of  a  negro  upon  anyone 
who  should  hold  any  "black  mankind"  to  perpetual 
service.  He,  however,  ingeniously  admits  that  the  law 
was  not  enforced,  and  that  there  was  a  disposition  in 
the  people  of  the  colony  to  buy  negroes  and  hold  them 
as  slaves  forever  (History  United  States,  Vol.  i, 
Chapter  5).  Stephens,  in  his  History,  states  that 
many  of  the  most  prominent  men  of  the  Colony  of 
Massachusetts  purchased  slaves  out  of  the  first  cargo 
brought  from  Africa,  in  1638,  in  the  Marblehead 
slave  ship,  "Desire." 

As  population  drifted  into  North  Carolina,  slavery 
came  along  with  it — from  Virginia,  from  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  from  more  Northern  States.  And  when,  in 
time,  it  was  discovered  that  slavery  was  an  unprofitable 
institution  in  the  bleaker  regions  of  New  England,  and 
the  moral  sentiments  of  the  people  began  to  recognize 
it  as  unlawful  as  well  as  unprofitable,  many  of  the 
slaves  were  sold  off  to  more  genial  latitudes.  The 
mild  climate,  the  fertile  soil,  and  the  unreclaimed 
wilderness  of  North  Carolina  furnished  an  inviting 
field  for  the  employment  of  slave  labor.  And  in  gen- 
eral,  just  as   fast  as  the   early  settlers   accumulated 


AFRICAN   SLAVERY  349 

enough  money  to  purchase  a  slave,  it  was  expended  in 
that  way.  This  was  peculiarly  the  case  with  the  En- 
ghsh  and  Scotch-Irish  settlers,  and  the  immigrants 
from  Virginia,  but  not  so  prevalent  among  the  German 
settlers,  though  many  of  them  also  followed  the  same 
practice.  As  stated  before,  the  records  of  the  early 
days  of  Rowan  show  the  presence  of  slaves  in  the 
county.  At  the  first  census,  in  1790,  there  were  1,839 
negroes  in  the  county,  including  the  territory  now  em- 
braced in  Davidson  and  Davie,  as  well  as  Rowan.  In 
1800  there  were  2,874  negroes.  In  1830  the  number 
had  increased  to  6,324.  The  separation  of  Davie  and 
Davidson  Counties  reduced  the  number  to  3,463  in 
1840,  and  it  rose  to  4,066  in  i860.  In  the  last-named 
year  the  white  population  of  Rowan  was  10,523,  or 
about  two  and  one-half  whites  to  each  negro. 

The  character  of  Rowan  County  slavery  was  gen- 
erally mild  and  paternal.  On  a  few  plantations,  prob- 
ably, where  a  considerable  number  of  slaves  were 
quartered,  and  it  was  necessary  to  employ  an  overseer, 
there  was  severity  of  discipline,  and  hard  labor;  for 
the  overseer  himself  was  a  hireling,  and  it  was  import- 
ant for  his  popularity  that  he  should  make  as  many 
barrels  of  corn  and  as  many  bales  of  cotton  as  possible, 
with  the  least  outlay  of  money  and  provisions.  But 
even  then  the  overtasked  or  underfed  slave  had  access 
to  his  master,  either  directly  or  through  the  young 
masters  and  mistresses,  who  felt  a  personal  interest  in 
the  slave,  and  would  raise  such  a  storm  about  the  ears 
of  a  cruel  overseer  as  would  effectually  secure  his  dis- 
missal from  his  post.     The  slave  represented  so  much 


350  HISTORY  OF   ROWAX    COUNTY 

money,  and  aside  from  considerations  of  humanity,  the 
prudent  and  economical  owner  could  not  afford  to 
have  his  slave  maltreated  and  his  value  impaired. 
There  was  of  course  room  for  abuse  in  all  this,  and 
there  were  heartless  and  tyrannical  masters,  and  there 
were  oppressed  and  suffering  slaves,  just  as  there  is 
tyranny  and  oppression  in  every  form  of  social  ex- 
istence in  this  fallen  and  ruined  world. 

But  with  many  families,  where  there  were  only  a 
few  slaves,  the  evils  of  servitude  w^re  reduced  to  a 
minimum.  The  slave  was  as  warmly  clothed,  as  se- 
curely sheltered,  and  as  bountifully  fed  as  his  master. 
He  worked  in  the  same  field,  and  at  the  same  kind  of 
work,  and  the  same  number  of  hours.  Sometimes  the 
clothing  was  coarser  and  the  food  not  so  delicate ;  but 
often  the  clothing  was  from  the  same  loom  and  the 
food  from  the  same  pot.  The  negro  had  his  holidays 
too — his  Fourth  of  July,  his  Christmas,  and  his  Gen- 
eral Cluster  gala  day.  And  where  the  family  altar  was 
established,  evening  and  morning  the  negroes,  old  and 
young,  brought  in  their  chairs  and  formed  a  large  cir- 
cle around  the  capacious  hearth  of  the  hall-room,  while 
the  father  and  master  priest  opened  the  big  family 
Bible,  and  read  the  words  of  life  from  its  sacred  pages. 
And  when  the  morning  and  evening  hymn  were  sung, 
the  negroes,  with  their  musical  voices,  joined  in  and 
sang  the  ''parceled  lines"  to  the  tune  of  Windham  or 
Sessions,  Xinety-fifth  or  Old  Hundred.  They  wor- 
shiped in  the  same  church  with  their  masters,  com- 
fortably seated  in  galleries  constructed  for  their  use, 
and  when  the  Lord's  supper  was  administered,  they 


AFRICAN   SLAVERY  351 

came  forward  and  sat  at  the  same  tables  where  their 
masters  had  sat,  and  drank  the  sacred  wine  from  the 
same  cups. 

In  all  this  we  are  not  affirming  that  there  was  social 
equality,  or  that  the  slave  was  always  contented  with 
his  lot  in  life.  No  doubt  he  often  chafed  under  the 
yoke  of  bondage,  and  sometimes  when  his  master  dealt 
hardly  with  him  he  ran  away,  and  hid  in  the  swamps 
and  thickets,  sustaining  life  by  stealing,  or  by  the  aid 
of  his  fellow-servants  who  sympathized  with  him  and 
who  faithfully  kept  his  secret  from  his  master.  Our 
weekly  newspapers  used  to  have  pictures  of  fugitive 
negroes,  with  a  stick  over  their  shoulders,  and  with  a 
bundle  swinging  to  it,  and  the  startling  heading  in 
large  capitals  ''RUNAWAY."  Something  after  this 
style : 


And  many  a  time  the  white  children  on  their  way  to 
or  from  school,  would  almost  hold  their  breath  as  they 
passed  some  dark  swamp  or  deserted  house,  when  they 
remembered  that  a  runaway  had  been  seen  in  the 
neighborhood.  Generally  the  runaway  got  tired  of 
lying  out  in  a  few  weeks,  especially  if  winter  was  near, 
and  voluntarily  came  home  and  submitted  to  whatever 
punishment   was   decided  upon. 


352  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN   COUXTY 

Occasionally  there  were  cruel  hardships  suffered  by 
them.  \\'hen  the  thriftless  master  got  in  debt,  or 
when  the  owner  died  and  his  estate  was  sold  at  vendue, 
or  if  the  heartless  master  chose,  the  negro  husband  and 
wife  might  be  separated,  or  parent  and  child  might  be 
sold  from  each  other,  one  party  falling  into  the  hands 
of  a  negro  trader,  and  carried  off  to  Alabama  or 
Mississippi.  Such  cases  occurred  at  intervals,  and  un- 
der the  laws  there  Vv^as  no  help  for  it.  But  in  all  such 
cases  the  feelings  of  humane  and  Christian  elements 
of  the  community  were  shocked.  Generally,  however, 
arrangements  were  made  to  purchase,  and  keep  in  the 
neighborhood,  all  deserving  negroes.  As  sales  would 
come  on  it  was  the  habit  of  the  negroes  to  go  to  some 
man  able  to  buy  them  and  secure  their  transfer  to  a 
desirable  home.  Sometimes,  however,  all  this  failed, 
and  the  "negro  trader"  having  the  longest  purse  would 
buy  and  carry  off  to  the  West  husbands  or  wives  or 
children  against  their  will.  Older  citizens  remember 
the  gangs  of  slaves  that  once  marched  through  our 
streets  with  a  hand  of  each  fastened  to  a  long  chain,  in 
double  file,  sometimes  with  sorrowful  look,  and  some- 
times with  a  mockery  of  gayety.  The  house  of  the 
trader  was,  perhaps,  a  comfortable  mansion,  in  some 
shady  square  of  town.  Xear  the  center  of  the  square, 
and  embowered  in  trees  and  vines,  was  his  "barra- 
coon,"  or  prison  for  the  unwilling.  There  a  dozen  or 
two  were  carefully  locked  up  and  guarded.  Other 
cabins  on  the  lot  contained  those  who  were  submissive 


AFRICAN   SLAVERY  353 

and  willing  to  go.  On  the  day  of  departure  for  the 
West  the  trader  would  have  a  grand  jollification.  A 
band,  or  at  least  a  drum  and  fife,  would  be  called  into 
requisition,  and  perhaps  a  little  rum  be  judiciously  dis- 
tributed to  heighten  the  spirits  of  his  sable  property, 
and  the  neighbors  would  gather  in  to  see  the  departure. 
First  of  all  one  or  two  closely  covered  wagons  would 
file  out  from  the  ''barracoon,"  containing  the  rebellious 
and  unwilling,  in  handcuffs  and  chains.  After  them 
the  rest,  dressed  in  comfortable  attire,  perhaps  danc- 
ing and  laughing,  as  if  they  were  going  on  some  holi- 
day excursion.  At  the  edge  of  the  town,  the  fife  and 
drum  ceased,  the  pageant  faded  away,  and  the  curious 
crowd  who  had  come  to  witness  the  scene  returned  to 
their  homes.  After  months  had  rolled  away  the 
"trader's"  wagons  came  back  from  Montgomery, 
Memphis,  Mobile,  or  New  Orleans,  loaded  with  lux- 
uries for  his  family.  In  boxes  and  bundles,  in  kegs  and 
caskets,  there  were  silks  and  laces,  watches  and  jew- 
elry, ribbons  and  feathers,  candies  and  tropical  fruits, 
wines  and  cordials,  for  family  use  and  luxurious  in- 
dulgence, all  the  profits  of  an  accursed  traffic  in  human 
flesh  and  blood,  human  tears  and  helpless  anguish  and 
oppression.  This  was  the  horrible  and  abominable 
side  of  this  form  of  social  institution.  It  was  evil, 
wretchedly  evil.  But  it  had  and  has  its  counterpart 
in  the  social  evils  of  the  poorer  classes  of  all  ages  and 
all  lands.  Multitudes  today,  by  inexorable  necessity, 
by  poverty  and  the  demands  for  certain  kinds  of  serv- 


354  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

ice,  are  as  hopelessly  enslaved  by  circumstances  as 
these  were  by  law.  This  is  not  alleged  as  an  excuse 
or  apolog-y  for  a  crying  evil,  but  only  as  an  intimation 
that  he  who  is  without  sin  may  consistently  throw 
stones  at  the  vanished  specter  of  African  slavery  in 
the  Southern  States.  And  glad  are  we  that  the  specter 
has  vanished  from  our  fair  land. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 


FOLKLORE 

The  population  of  Rowan  County,  it  has  been  truth- 
fully said,  was  made  up  of  almost  all  the  nations  of 
Europe.  There  were  English,  Welsh,  Scotch,  and  the 
ever  present  Scotch-Irish,  the  pure  Irish,  the  French, 
and  Germans  from  the  upper  and  lower  Rhine,  the 
Palatines  and  Hessians,  with  now  and  then  a  Switzer 
or  Italian.  These  all  brought  their  own  peculiar  hab- 
its, prejudices,  and  national  superstitions.  And 
when  these  were  all  mingled  together,  and  supple- 
mented by  the  belief  in  spells,  charms,  and  fetishes  of 
the  African  race,  there  was  a  little  of  almost  every 
superstition  under  the  sun.  Let  us  catch  a  glimpse, 
before   it  vanishes   forever,   of   this   undercurrent   of 

Popular    Superstition 

as  it  existed  a  few  generations  ago,  and  may  still 
exist  in  certain  localities  in  Rowan  County.  It  is  but 
the  reiteration  of  a  well-known  historical  fact,  when 
we  assert  that  all  nations  and  peoples  have  had  their 
superstitious  beliefs  and  practices ;  and  it  is  no  dis- 
credit to  the  inhabitants  of  Rowan  to  say  that  they 
shared  with  their  contemporaries  in  the  popular  super- 
stitions of  the  day.     Prominent  among  these  was  the 


356  history  of  rowax  county 

Belief  ix  Witches 

No  man  was  ever  burnt  in  Rowan  County  for  witch- 
craft, as  they  wxre  in  some  counties  claiming  to  be 
more  civiHzed.  But  this  was  owing,  either  to  the  su- 
perior charity  of  the  people,  or  to  the  fact  that  they 
supposed  themselves  able  to  overmatch  the  witches 
with  countercharms.  A  witch  was  generally  sup- 
posed to  be  an  old  woman  in  league  with  the  devil,  and 
able  to  do  wonderful  things  by  Satanic  agency.  The 
usual  way  to  become  a  witch  was  to  go  down  to  the 
spring  at  the  dawn  of  day,  and  looking  down  at  the 
image  dimly  outlined  in  the  water,  pledge  the  soul  to 
Satan,  upon  condition  of  his  rendering  them  the  help 
needed.  After  this  compact  the  v.-itches  could  do  won- 
derful things,  such  as  riding  on  broomsticks  through 
the  air,  transforming  themselves  into  black  cats, 
rabbits,  and  other  animals.  \\'alking  along  the  road 
late  in  the  evening,  a  man  alleged  that  he  saw  three 
women  sitting  on  a  log  beside  the  road.  As  he  looked 
at  them,  the  women  suddenly  melted  from  view,  and 
three  antlered  deer  galloped  off  in  their  stead.  The 
witch  or  wizard  was  supposed  to  have  power  to  trans- 
fer corn  from  the  horse-trough  of  his  neighbor  to  his 
own  horse,  and  while  his  neighbor's  horses  got  poor 
and  lean,  his  own  were  sleek  and  fat.  To  see  a  rabbit 
hopping  about  a  barn  suggested  the  presence  of  a  witch 
making  arrangements  to  abstract  the  corn  from  the 
horses,  or  the  milk  from  the  cows.  But  an  old-fash- 
ioned shilling,  with  its  pillars  of  Hercules,  nailed  in  the 
horse-trough,  was  supposed  to  break  the  spell  and  keep 


FOLKLORE  357 

the  corn  in  the  trough.  The  only  way  of  kilHng  the 
witch  rabbits  and  black  cats  was  by  using  a  silver  bul- 
let. The  rabbit  would  vanish,  but  the  witch  at  home 
would  suddenly  die  of  heart  disease  or  apoplexy.  In 
the  meantime,  the  witches  were  supposed  to  use  a  pecu- 
Har  kind  of  a  gun,  which  was  simply  a  glass  phial,  open 
at  both  ends,  and  a  bullet  made  of  knotted  and  twisted 
hair.  This  bullet  possessed  the  wonderful  property  of 
penetrating  the  flesh  of  an  animal  without  making  any 
hole  in  the  skin.  It  was  alleged  that  such  bullets  were 
found,  and  animals  often,  being  skinned,  would  show 
the  hole  through  which  these  bullets  went. 

It  was  believed  that  witches  rode  on  the  necks  of 
horses  at  night,  and  their  knotted  stirrups  were  some- 
times seen  in  the  manes  of  the  horses.  In  these  cases, 
they  assumed  the  form  of  rabbits.  A  story  used  to  be 
related  of  the  mistake  of  an  inexperienced  witch  in  try- 
ing to  increase  the  amount  of  butter  at  a  churning. 
She  took  her  cream,  and  measured  it  into  her  churn 
by  the  spoonful,  repeating  at  each  dip,  "a  spoonful 
from  that  house,''  and  "a  spoonful  from  that  house." 
Unfortunately,  speaking  in  German,  she  got  the  word 
for  ladle  instead  of  spoon,  and  so  said,  *'a  ladleful  from 
that  house."  As  a  consequence,  when  she  began  to 
churn,  the  cream  began  to  swell  up  as  the  ladlefuls 
came  in,  until  the  churn  was  full  and  it  ran  over  and 
flooded  the  room.  At  that  juncture  a  neighbor  walked 
in,  and  found  her  unable  to  account  for  the  abundance 
of  cream,  and  in  her  confusion  she  divulged  the  em- 
barrassing secret. 


358  history  of  rowan  county 

Spells  and  Charms 

Intimately  connected  with  this  witchcraft  was  the 
belief  in  spells  and  charms.  This  was  very  common 
among  the  negroes,  and  perhaps  continues  to  this  day. 
Nothing  was  more  common  than  to  account  for  cert  am 
obscure  diseases  as  the  result  of  a  "trick."  The  sick 
person  was  said  to  be  ''tricked."  This  was  supposed 
to  be  done  in  various  ways,  but  very  frequently  by 
making  some  mixture  of  roots,  hair,  parings  of  finger- 
nails, and  other  ingredients,  tying  the  compound  up  m 
a  cloth,  and  laying  it  under  a  doorstep,  or  piece  of 
wood  or  stone  where  the  victim  had  to  tread,  or  per- 
haps was  put  into  the  spring  or  well.  In  such  emer- 
gencies the  only  refuge  was  a  ''trick  doctor"  or  con- 
jurer, who  knew  how  to  brew  a  medicine,  or  repeat  a 
charm  more  potent  than  the  spell  laid  on.  Such  "trick 
doctors"  were  to  be  found  in  the  memory  of  persons 
still  living.  They  were  generally  men  of  a  shrewd, 
unscrupulous  character,  who  managed  to  delude  the 
minds  of  the  gullible  victims  of  trickery.  He  who  was 
weak  enough  to  believe  in  the  "trick,"  was  not  hard  to 
be  persuaded  and  imposed  upon  by  the  conjurer.  ]\Iar- 
velous  stories  were  told  of  the  skill  of  these  conjurers. 
So  potent  was  the  skill  of  one  of  these  that  he  needed 
no  lock  on  his  crib  or  smokehouse.  All  he  did  was  to 
draw  a  circle  in  the  dust  or  earth  around  his  premises, 
and  the  thief  who  dared  enter  that  magic  circle  would 
be  found  standing  there  next  morning,  with  his  bag  of 
stolen  meat  or  corn  on  his  shoulder.  One  of  these 
conjurers  was  believed  to  have  the  power  of  taking 


FOLKLORE  359 

some  straws  and  turning  a  thief's  track  upside  down, 
and  compelling-  him  to  come  and  stand  on  the  reversed 
track.  The  premises  of  a  man  with  such  a  reputation 
were  generally  safe  without  lock  or  key.  To  do  them 
justice,  the  conjurers  were  generally  very  moderate  in 
their  charges,  seeming  to  find  their  reward  in  the  rep- 
utation which  they  achieved  among  their  neighbors. 
And  their  countercharms  and  potions  were  generally 
innocent,  and  only  calculated  to  work  upon  the  imagi- 
nation. Sometimes  they  used  real  remedies,  supple- 
menting them  with  certain  passes  and  motions.  For  in- 
stance, many  years  ago,  a  boy  cut  his  foot  badly  with 
an  ax.  The  wound  was  loosely  and  awkwardly  bound 
up,  and  the  blood  continued  to  flow,  until  the  lad  was 
like  to  die.  In  this  emergency  a  neighbor  was  sent  for 
about  midnight  to  staunch  the  blood  by  "using"  for  it. 
He  came  promptly,  and  carefully  unbound  the  foot, 
washed  off  the  clotted  blood,  adjusted  the  lips  of  the 
wound,  and  bound  on  it  the  fleshy  scrapings  of  sole 
leather.  After  this,  he  took  another  sharp  tool,  a  draw- 
ing knife,  and  made  various  passes  over  the  foot,  at 
the  same  time  muttering  come  cabalistic  words — per- 
haps a  verse  from  the  Bible.  The  remedy  as  a  whole 
was  eminently  successful,  but  the  patient  was  dis- 
posed to  attribute  the  cure  to  the  careful  adjustment, 
and  the  astringent  properties  of  oak  bark  absorbed  in 
tanning  by  the  scrapings  of  the  leather,  rather  than  to 
the  magic  "passes"  and  the  muttered  words. 

It  was  believed  that  if  witch  rabbits  sucked  the  cows 
it  would  cause  them  to  give  bloody  milk.  The  remedy 
for  this  was  to  milk  the  cow  through  a  knothole  of  a 


360  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN    COUNTY 

piece  of  rich  pine  plank,  and  the  reader  may  have  seen, 
as  the  writer  has,  such  pieces  of  plank,  with  a  knothole 
in  them,  hanging  up  beside  the  kitchen,  and  ready  for 
use  at  any  time.  In  those  days  a  worn  horseshoe  nailed 
over  the  door  was  regarded  as  a  spell  against  witch 
power,  and  the  cause  of  good  luck.  At  present  it  has 
become  the  fashion  to  form  many  ornaments  after  the 
horseshoe  pattern  as  a  symbol  of  good  luck.  Some 
persons  believed  that  if  a  rabbit  ran  across  the  road 
from  the  right  to  the  left  hand,  it  foreboded  bad  luck, 
but  if  from  the  left  to  the  right,  good  luck.  To  catch 
the  first  glimpse  of  the  new  moon  through  the  branches 
of  the  trees  was  a  token  of  trouble  during  the  next 
month,  but  if  seen  in  the  open  sky  the  first  time  it  was 
the  harbinger  of  a  prosperous  month.  For  a  funeral 
procession  to  stop  before  getting  off  the  premises  or 
plantation  was  a  sign  that  another  funeral  would  soon 
take  place  from  the  same  house.  But  the  great  em- 
bodiment of  signs  was  the  moon,  and  in  many  families 
scarcely  anything  of  importance  was  undertaken  with- 
out first  inquiring  whether  it  would  be  in  the  *'dark" 
or  the  ''light"  of  the  moon.  The  Salem  almanac  was 
and  is  an  institution  that  no  prudent  believer  in  the 
signs  would  think  of  dispensing  with.  Com,  potatoes, 
turnips,  and  beans,  in  fact  everything,  must  be  planted 
when  the  sign  is  right,  in  the  head,  or  the  feet,  or  the 
heart,  in  Leo  or  Taurus,  in  Aquarius  or  Pisces,  in 
Gemini  or  Cancer,  according  as  large  vegetables  or 
many  vegetables  are  desired.  Briars  are  to  be  cut  and- 
fence  foundations  laid  exactly  in  the  right  sign,  or 
success  is  not  expected.    In  fact,  attention  to  the  signs 


FOLKLORE  361 

frequently  superseded  attention  to  the  seed  and  the 
soil,  and  the  proper  method  of  cultivation,  and  has 
probably  done  much  to  retard  agricultural  progress. 

There  is  a  charm  in  the  mysterious  that  fascinates 
the  untutored  mind ;  and  many  would  rather  be  skillful 
in  discerning  the  signs  than  prudent  in  bestowing  pro- 
ductive labor. 

It  would  be  an  endless  task  to  enumerate  all  the 
superstitious  notions  that  have  floated  through  the 
popular  mind,  and  that  have  been  the  theme  of  serious 
conversation  and  meditation  among  the  people,  in  the 
century  and  a  half  that  has  passed  since  this  region 
was  peopled.  With  many,  these  superstitions  have 
been  but  a  fancy,  a  curious  theme  of  discussion,  not 
seriously  believed.  But  others  have  been  the  slaves 
of  these  unfounded  notions,  and  have  been  made 
miserable  by  the  howling  of  a  dog,  or  the  ticking  of  a 
''death  watch"  in  the  wall.  As  the  light  of  education 
and  religion  is  more  widely  diffused,  this  slavery  has 
passed  away,  and  there  are  probably  few  today  who 
are  willing  to  confess  their  belief  in  the  notions  that 
still  Hnger  in  their  minds  as  traditions  of  their  fathers. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 


THE  CHURCHES  OF  ROWAN 

The  early  settlers  of  Rowan  County  were  religious 
people,  and  in  many  instances  the  enjoyment  of  perfect 
liberty  of  conscience  was  the  great  object  which  they 
were  seeking  when  they  were  making  for  themselves 
a  home  in  the  Western  world.  The  poor  Palatines  had 
endured  much  suffering  in  their  home  on  the  Rhine, 
and  been  driven  forth  to  seek  shelter  for  their  families 
in  foreign  lands.  They,  or  their  descendants,  found  a 
resting-place  in  Eastern  Rowan.  The  Scotch-Irish 
fled  from  the  North  of  Ireland,  in  consequence  of  dis- 
abilities imposed  on  them  for  the  sake  of  their  religion. 
They  found  a  home  in  the  fertile  lands  of  \\^estern 
Rowan ;  and  with  them  they  brought  an  intense  love 
for  their  own  peculiar  doctrines  and  forms  of  worship. 

Presbyterianism  in  Rowan 

is  older  than  the  organization  of  the  county,  not  only 
in  the  affections  and  doctrines  of  the  settlers,  but  in 
the  form  of  organized  Presbyterian  congregations.  On 
pages  forty-six  and  forty-seven  of  the  first  volume  of 
deeds  in  the  Register's  office,  we  find  it  recorded  that, 
on  the  seventeenth  of  January,  1753,  John  Lynn  and 
N'aomi  Lynn  gave  a  deed  for  twelve  acres  of  land, 
more  or  less,  on  James  Cathey's  line,  in  Anson  County, 


364  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN    COUNTY 

"to  a  congregation  belonging  to  ye  Lower  meeting- 
house, between  the  Atking  River  and  ye  Catabo  Do., 
adhering  to  a  minister  Hcensed  from  a  Presbytery  be- 
longing to  the  old  Synod  of  Philadelphia."  This  deed 
was  witnessed  by  Edward  Cusick,  John  Gardiner,  and 
William  Brandon.  On  the  eighteenth  of  January, 
1753,  a  similar  deed  for  twelve  acres  more,  ''on  James 
Cathey's  north  line/'  was  conveyed  to  the  same  con- 
gregation. From  this  we  learn  that  there  was  an  or- 
ganized congregation  of  Presbyterians  at  this  point, 
capable  of  purchasing  land,  and  its  popular  name  was 
the  'Xower  Meeting-house."  The  second  name  by 
which  it  was  known  was  ''Cathey's  Meeting-house," 
doubtless  because  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Catheys. 
Its  third  and  present  name  was  and  is  Thyatira. 
Whether  it  was  an  organized  church,  with  its  regularly 
ordained  elders,  at  that  early  day,  we  have  no  means  of 
determining.  It  is  probable  that  some  of  the  first  set- 
tlers— the  Catheys,  Brandons,  Barrs,  Andrews,  Gra- 
hams, or  Nesbits — were  ordained  elders  before  leaving 
Pennsylvania,  and  exercised  their  office  in  planting  a 
church  near  their  new  homes. 

A  second  thought  suggested  by  the  name,  "Lower 
Meeting-house,"  is  that  there  was  at  that  date  an  'Tap- 
per Meeting-house,"  or  perhaps  more  than  one.  The 
"Upper"  one  would  naturally  be  looked  for  higher  up 
the  principal  streams — the  Yadkin  and  Catawba — and 
was  no  doubt  to  be  found  in  the  settlement  where 
Statesville  was  afterwards  built,  and  which  was  after- 
wards divided  into  the  three  churches  of  Fourth  Creek, 
(Statesville),    Concord,    and    Bethany.      These    four 


THE  CHURCHES  OF  ROWAN  365 

churches  of  Rowan,  with  seven  churches  of  Mecklen- 
burg, constituted  the  eleven  historical  churches  of 
Western  North  Carolina,  whose  boundaries  were  de- 
fined, and  whose  organization  was  completed,  by  the 
missionaries,  Rev.  Messrs.  Spencer  and  McWhorter, 
in  1764.  The  latter  is  the  date  generally  assigned  as 
the  time  of  their  organization,  but  most  of  them  are 
really  a  dozen  or  perhaps  twenty  years  older,  or  con- 
temporaneous with  earliest  settlement. 

From  the  History  of  Fourth  Creek  Church,  written 
by  Rev.  E.  F.  Rockwell,  we  learn  that  Fourth  Creek 
was  gathered  into  a  congregation  at  least  as  early  as 
1751,  and  their  place  of  worship  was  fixed  upon  as 
early  as  1756.  The  Rev.  John  Thompson  came  into 
this  region  as  early  as  1751^  and  settled  near  Center 
Church.  He 'preached  at  Fourth  Creek,  and  various 
other  stations  in  Rowan  County,  for  about  two  years, 
and  it  is  said  the  people  came  twenty  or  twenty-five 
miles  to  his  appointments.  ''From  the  Davidson  Set- 
tlement and  the  region  of  Beattie's  Ford,  they  came; 
from  Rowan,  the  Brandons,  the  Cowans,  the  Brawleys. 
Sometimes  he  baptized  a  score  of  infants  at  once." 
He  had  one  preaching  station  near  where  Third  Creek 
Church  is,  one  at  ^Morrison's  Mill,  one  near  the  present 
site  of  Davidson  College.  As  Cathey's  Meeting-house 
(Thyatira)  was  established  about  this  time,  or  earlier, 
no  doubt  John  Thompson  preached  at  that  place  also. 

From  a  manuscript  map  of  Fourth  Creek  congrega- 
tion, drawn  up  by  Hon.  William  Sharpe  in  1773,  it 
appears  that  there  were  one  hundred  and  ninety-six 
heads  of  families,  one  hundred  and  eleven  different 


366  HISTORY   OF   ROWAX   COUXTY 

names,  residing  within  ten  miles  of  Fourth  Creek 
Church,  and  belonging  to  the  congregation.  The  num- 
ber of  persons,  at  the  usual  estimate  of  five  to  a  family, 
would  be  nearly  one  thousand.  Out  of  these  were 
formed,  in  later  days,  the  churches  of  Fourth  Creek, 
Concord,  Bethany,  Shiloh,  Bethesda,  Third  Creek, 
Fifth  Creek,  Tabor,  and  Clio,  or  parts  of  them,  now 
numbering  one  thousand  and  ninety-seven  members. 
But  though  these  were  in  Old  Rowan,  they  are  now  in 
Iredell  County.  Cathey's  or  Thyatira  is  the  mother 
church  of  modern  Rowan  Presbyterians.  In  1753, 
two  missionaries  were  sent  by  the  Synod  of  Philadel- 
phia to  visit  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  with  direc- 
tions to  show  special  regard  to  the  vacancies  between 
the  Yadkin  and  Catawba.  The  names  of  these  min- 
isters were  MciMordie  and  Donaldson.  In  the  fall  of 
1755,  the  Rev.  Hugh  McAden  made  a  tour  through 
North  and  South  Carolina,  preached  at  Cathey's  Meet- 
ing-house, and  was  solicited  to  remain,  but  declined. 
The  same  year,  the  Rev.  John  Brainard  and  the  Rev. 
Elihu  Spencer  were  directed  by  the  Synod  of  New 
York  to  supply  vacant  congregations  in  North  Caro- 
lina, but  there  is  no  report  of  their  visit.  For  ten 
years  after  this,  there  is  no  record  of  any  laborer 
in  this  region,  but  the  congregations  still  held  to- 
gether and  awaited  the  arrival  of  a  minister.  In 
1764  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  sent  the  Rev.  ^Messrs. 
Elihu  Spencer  and  Alexander  ]\Ic\Miorter  to  form 
societies,  adjust  the  boundaries  of  congregations, 
ordain  elders,  and  dispense  the  sacraments.  It  was 
at  this  period  that  the  seven  churches  of  ^lecklenburg, 


THE  CHURCHES  OF  ROWAN  367 

and  the  two  churches  of  Rowan — Fourth  Creek  and 
Thyatira — were  definitely  established.  The  next  year, 
1765,  Fourth  Creek  and  Thyatira  united  in  a  call  for 
the  services  of  the  Rev.  Elihu  Spencer,  and  the  con- 
gregations sent  wagons,  accompanied  by  elderly  men, 
all  the  way  to  New  Jersey  to  move  his  family  to 
Rowan.  It  is  said  that  he  declined  to  come  because 
the  messengers  refused  to  pledge  themselves  to  restore 
his  wife  to  her  friends  in  the  event  of  his  death  at  an 
early  day.  It  was  eight  years  more  before  Thyatira 
obtained  a  minister.  In  1772,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Harris,  of 
whom  we  know  nothing  further,  took  charge  of  the 
church,  and  remained  about  two  years.  In  1778,  the 
Rev.  James  Hall  became  pastor  of  Fourth  Creek,  Con- 
cord, and  Bethany  Churches,  and  in  1777  the  Rev. 
Samuel  Eusebius  IMcCorkle  was  ordained  and  installed 
pastor  of  Thyatira  Church.  Mr.  McCorkle  was  born 
in  Lancaster  County,  Pa.,  in  1746,  and  came  with  his 
parents  to  Rowan  in  1756.  He  prepared  for  college 
under  the  Rev.  David  Caldwell,  of  Guilford,  and 
was  graduated  from  Princeton  in  1772.  He  was 
licensed  by  the  Presbytery  of  New  York  in  1774,  and 
then  preached  two  years  in  Virginia.  After  preaching 
about  eight  years  in  Thyatira,  he  commenced  a  classical 
school,  about  a  mile  east  of  the  church,  which  he  called 
*'Zion  Parnassus  Academy."  This  school  was  emi- 
nently useful,  and  Dr.  McCorkle's  students  were 
thoroughly  drilled,  and  six  of  the  seven  graduates  of 
the  first  class  from  the  University  of  North  Carolina 
were  Dr.  McCorkle's  pupils.  Forty-five  of  his  students 
entered  the  ministry,  and  many  of  them  became  law- 


368  HISTORY   OF   ROWAX    COUNTY 

yers,  judges,  and  officers  of  the  State.  The  signal  suc- 
cess of  his  pupils  in  achieving  eminence  arose  from  his 
faithfulness  in  discouraging  young  men  who  were  des- 
titute of  respectable  talents  from  following  any  of  the 
learned  professions. 

In  1795,  the  trustees  of  the  University  of  North 
CaroHna  elected  Dr.  ]\IcCorkle  Professor  of  Moral  and 
Political  Philosophy  and  History,  with  the  view  of 
his  acting  as  president.  General  Davie,  it  seems,  ob- 
jected to  the  arrangement,  and  this  caused  Dr.  Aic- 
Corkle  to  decline  the  place.  In  1796,  the  Rev.  Joseph 
Caldwell  was  elected  to  the  chair  of  ^lathematics,  and 
presiding  professor,  and  for  forty  years  guided  the  m- 
stitution  in  its  career  of  usefulness.  But  Dr.  McCor- 
kle  did  not  cease  to  labor  for  the  advancement  of  the 
infant  University.  He  made  many  excursions  to  raise 
funds  for  its  endowment,  was  present  at  the  laying  of 
the  cornerstone  of  the  first  building,  and  made  an  ad- 
dress upon  that  occasion.  He  did  not  cease  to  love  the 
University  to  the  end  of  his  Hfe.  On  the  second  of 
July,  1776,  the  Rev.  Samuel  E.  McCorkle  was  married 
to  Margaret  Gillespie,  of  Salisbury,  the  daughter  of 
the  patriotic  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Steele,  who  relieved  the 
distress  of  General  Greene,  in  Salisbury,  by  the  timely 
supply  of  money.  She  bore  him  ten  children,  six  of 
whom  survived  him,  and  some  of  their  descendants  are 
still  living  in  Thyatira.  Dr.  ]\IcCorkle  received  his 
death  warrant  in  the  pulpit,  being  stricken  with  palsy 
while  conducting  the  ser^nces  of  the  sanctuar\^  He 
lingered  on  for  a  number  of  years,  unable  to  fulfill  the 
duties  of  the  ministry,  except  by  patient  suffering  for 


THE  CHURCHES  OF  ROWAN  369 

the  Master's  sake.  On  the  twenty-first  of  June,  1811, 
he  was  called  to  his  reward,  and  his  body  was  laid  in 
the  Thyatira  graveyard. 

About  1792,  Third  Creek  and  Unity  Churches  in 
Rowan  were  organized,  and  about  the  same  period, 
Joppa,  now  Mocksville  Church,  in  Davie  County.  The 
Rev.  Joseph  D.  Kilpatrick,  from  the  Waxhaws  in 
South  Carolina,  was  the  first  pastor  of  these  churches, 
that  were  cut  off  from  Thyatira,  Fourth  Creek,  and 
Bethany  Churches.  In  the  revivals  of  1802-03,  Mr. 
Kilpatrick  was  an  active  participant,  and  warm  sympa- 
thizer. He  labored  in  this  field  until  March,  1829, 
when  he  was  called  to  his  rest.  His  remains  are  in- 
terred in  the  graveyard  of  Third  Creek  Church.  Two 
of  his  sons,  Abner  and  Josiah,  became  ministers,  and 
two  of  his  daughters  married  ministers  —  one  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Kerr,  and  the  other  the  Rev.  Mr.  Porter. 
Four  or  five  of  Mr.  Porter's  sons  became  ministers. 
The  revival  of  1802-03  had  great  effect  upon  the 
western  neighborhoods  of  Thyatira,  and  they  began 
to  desire  a  separate  church.  Dr.  McCorkle  did  not 
sympathize  with  the  camp-meeting  movement,  but  only 
tolerated  it.  On  the  other  hand  a  part  of  his  congre- 
gation was  fully  under  its  influence.  In  1805,  Back 
Creek  was  erected  into  a  separate  church.  At  its 
organization  it  possessed  an  eldership  of  peculiar  ex- 
cellence, and  it  has  sent  out  some  ministers  of  the  gos- 
pel whose  labors  have  been  greatly  blessed.  In  1824, 
Prospect  Church,  in  the  southwestern  corner  of 
Rowan,  was  organized,  mainly  from  Center  congrega- 
tion, but  partly  from  Back  Creek.     In  1829,  Franklin 


3/0  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

Church,  four  miles  north  of  Salisbury,  was  organized 
in  vacant  ground  adjoining  Thyatira,  Third  Creek, 
and  Unity.  All  these  churches  have  been  served  by 
a  succession  of  devoted  ministers. 

The  ministers  of  Thyatira  after  Dr.  ]\IcCorkle, 
were  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Bowman — a  son-in-law  of  Dr. 
McCorkle — John  Carrigan,  James  Stafford,  James  D. 
Hall,  A.  Y.  Lockridge,  S.  C.  Alexander,  B.  S.  Krider, 
S.  C.  Pharr,  and  J.  A.  Ramsay. 

Back  Creek  has  had  for  ministers,  Joseph  D.  Kil- 
patrick,  A.  Y.  Lockridge,  Thomas  E.  Davis,  S.  C. 
Alexander,  W.  B.  Watts,  Robert  Bradley,  A.  E. 
Chandler,  and  J.  A.  Ramsay. 

Beth  PHAGE  Church,  originally  in  Rowan,  mid- 
way between  Thyatira  and  Poplar  Tent,  was  or- 
ganized in  1/95,  ^^d  had  for  its  ministers  the  Rev. 
John  Carrigan,  the  Rev.  James  Stafford,  Rev.  James 
E.  Morrison,  Rev.  W^alter  \Y.  Pharr,  and  Rev.  Wil- 
liam W.  Pharr,  all  natives  of  Rocky  River  congrega- 
tion. 

Third  Creek  was  served  by  the  following  minis- 
ters :  Rev.  Messrs.  Joseph  D.  Kilpatrick,  Josiah 
Kilpatrick,  A.  Y.  Lockridge,  J.  M.  H.  Adams,  S.  B.  O. 
Wilson,  G.  D.  Parks,  G.  R.  Brackett,  \\'illiam  A. 
Wood,  R.  W.  Boyd,  and  A.  L.  Crawford. 

Unity  Church  was  served  by  Rev.  ]\Iessrs.  Joseph 
D.  Kilpatrick,  Franklin  \\'atts,  William  A.  Hall,  Jesse 
Rankin,  B.  S.  Krider,  G.  R.  Brackett,  William  A. 
Wood,  E.  F.  Rockwell,  and  R.  \\'.  Boyd. 

Prospect  Church  has  enjoyed  the  ministerial  la- 
bors   of    various    ministers,    among    whom    are    Rev. 


THE  CHURCHES  OF  ROWAN  3/1 

Messrs.  Walter  S.  Pharr,  John  LeRoy  Davies,  John 
E.  McPherson,  E.  D.  Junkin,  W.  B.  Watts,  Robert 
Bradley,  Romulus  I\I.  Tuttle,  William  H.  Davis,  P.  T. 
Penick,  and  F.  P.  Harrell. 

JoppA  (or  Mocksville  Church),  formerly  in 
Rowan,  was  founded  by  the  Rev.  Joseph  D.  Kilpatrick. 
After  him   came  the   Rev.   Franklin   Watts,   William 

A.  Hall,  Jesse  Rankin,  B.  S.  Krider,  R.  B.  Anderson, 

B.  L.  Beall,  WiUiam  M.  Kilpatrick,  S.  S.  Murkland, 
G.  M.  Gibbs,  and  A.  L.  Crawford. 

Franklin  Church,  founded  by  the  Rev.  Franklin 
Watts  in  1829,  had  for  its  ministers  the  Rev.  Messrs. 
William  A.  Hall,  Jesse  Rankin,  B.  S.  Krider,  James  D. 
Hall,  B.  L.  Beall,  S.  C.  Pharr,  A.  L.  Crawford,  and 
R.  W.  Boyd. 

These  churches  at  the  present  time  have  for  their 
pastors  the  ministers  last  named  in  the  above  rolls, 
and  embrace  a  membership  of  nine  hundred  and  forty, 
with  children  in  the  Sabbath  Schools  numbering 
seven  hundred  and  forty-six.  This  estimate  includes 
the  Salisbury  Church,  but  excludes  Bethphage  and 
Mocksville,  as  lying  outside  of  Rowan  County. 

The  Salisbury  Church 

The  town  of  Salisbury  lies  between  the  settlements 
of  the  Scotch-Irish  and  the  "Pennsylvania  Dutch"  or 
Germans.  To  the  east  and  south  lay  the  great  body 
of  the  German  settlers ;  and  to  the  north  and  west  the 
Scotch-Irish  predominated.  The  population  of  the 
town  was  a  mixture  of  these  two  races,  interspersed 
with  Englishmen,  Frenchmen,  pure  Irish  and  Scotch. 


2;j2  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

Among  the  early  inhabitants  we  find  a  good  many 
names  that  are  suggestive  of  Presbyterian  affinities. 
These  people  had  no  church  of  their  own,  but  such 
as  were  church  members  belonged  to  Thyatira.  Dr. 
McCorkle,  having  married  the  daughter  of  Mrs.  Eliza- 
beth Steele,  the  half-sister  of  Gen.  John  Steele,  was 
early  brought  into  connection  with  the  Salisbury  peo- 
ple, and  frequently  preached  in  the  courthouse,  or  in 
the  Lutheran  Church,  as  most  convenient.  In  1803- 
04,  Dr.  James  McRee,  of  Center  Church,  preached  in 
Salisbury  once  a  month,  and  from  1807  to  1809,  the 
Rev.  John  Brown,  D.  D.,  was  principal  of  an  Academy 
in  Salisbury,  and  preached  regularly  there  one-half  of 
his  time,  giving  the  other  half  to  Thyatira.  This  was 
during  the  time  that  Dr.  ]\IcCorkle  was  prostrated  by 
paralysis.  Dr.  Brown  was  called  to  the  presidency  of 
the  South  Carolina  College,  and  afterwards  became 
president  of  Athens  College,  Georgia,  and  there  ended 
his  life.  Between  the  years  of  1809  and  18 19,  the 
Rev.  Samuel  L.  Graham,  the  Rev.  Parsons  O.  Hays, 
and  perhaps  others,  preached  for  a  while  in  Salisbury. 
During  all  this  time  there  were  not  enough  Presby- 
terian Church  members  in  Salisbury  to  justify  an  or- 
ganization; at  least,  such  was  the  opinion  of  these 
members  and  visiting  preachers.  But  in  1820  there 
came  as  teacher  to  Salisbury,  a  man  who  entertained 
a  different  opinion.    This  was  the 

Rev.  Jonathan  Otis  Freeman,  I\I.  D. 

He  soon  began  to  agitate  the  subject  of  church  or- 
ganization, and  before  the  close  of  the  year  he  col- 


THE  CHURCHES  OF  ROWAX  373 

lected  a  body  of  thirteen  members,  had  them  organized 
into  a  church,  and  ordained  Alexander  Torrence, 
Thomas  L.  Cowan,  and  Dr.  Alexander  Long  as  ruling 
elders.  In  The  Western  Carolinian,  published  by 
Bingham  &  White,  of  the  date  of  August  7,  1821, 
appeared  the  following  notice:  "The  sacrament  was 
administered  in  the  new  church  in  this  place  for  the 
first  time,  on  last  Sabbath,  by  the  Rev.  :\Ir.  Freeman, 
assisted  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Robinson,  of  Poplar  Tent 
congregation."  The  "New  Church"  was  not  a  new 
house  of  worship,  but  the  newly  organized  Presby- 
terian Church  of  Salisbury,  which  had  probably  been 
organized  on  the  Saturday  preceding — August  4, 
1 82 1.  The  church  building  was  not  finished  until  five 
years  later.  The  church  was  composed  of  the  following 
thirteen  members:  Albert  Torrence,  Elizabeth  Tor- 
rence, Hugh  Horah,  Alary  Horah,  Thomas  L.  Cowan, 
Elizabeth  Cowan,  Dr.  Alexander  Long,  Mary  Long, 
John  Fulton,  Charity  Gay,  Mary  T.  Holland,  Ann 
Alurphy,  and  Margaret  Beckwith.  Tradition  reports 
that  the  church  was  organized  in  the  old  Lutheran 
Church,  standing  on  a  spot  just  inside  of  the  present 
Lutheran  graveyard.  The  graves  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Cowan  are  on  the  site  of  the  old  church.  For  several 
years  this  church  had  no  home,  but  worshiped  either 
in  the  courthouse  or  in  the  Lutheran  Church.  Weekly 
prayer  meetings  were  held  in  private  houses,  and  from 
this  originated  the  custom  in  this  church  of  kneeling 
at  its  prayer  meetings  instead  of  standing  as  is  prac- 
ticed in  other  Presbyterian  Churches.  Dr.  Freeman 
remained  in   Salisbury  until   1826,  when  he  removed 


374  HISTORY  OF  ROWAX    COUNTY 

to  Raleigh,  N.  C.  Just  before  leaving,  he  laid  the  cor- 
nerstone of  the  present  church  building,  with  appro- 
priate services.  During  his  stay  of  five  years  the 
following  persons  were  added  to  the  church :  ^lichael 
Brown  (1823),  Isabella  Maria  Brown,  Jane  Troy, 
Catherine  B.  Troy,  EHzabeth  ]\Iurphy,  EHzabeth 
Giles,  Susan  Giles,  Margaret  Dickson,  ]\Iary  Gay, 
Mary  Ann  Reeves,  Jane  Trotter,  Joseph  Hall,  Dr.  John 
Scott,  William  Curtis,  Mrs.  Curtis,  with  seven  colored 
persons.  All  these  have  passed  away  from  earth. 
Thirty-five  were  gathered  into  the  church  under  Dr. 
Freeman's  administration.  Of  Dr.  Freeman,  the 
founder  of  the  Salisbury  Presbyterian  Church, 
not  very  much  is  now  known.  Jonathan  Otis  Free- 
man was  born  in  Barnstable,  Mass.,  April  6,  1772.  He 
was  probably  educated  in  his  native  State,  studied 
medicine  and  took  his  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine. 
He  married  Mary  Crocker,  of  his  native  town,  Decem- 
ber 10,  1794.  He  removed  to  North  Carolina  in  1805. 
At  a  meeting  of  Concord  Presbytery,  held  in  Salis- 
bury, September  27,  1821,  the  Rev.  Jonathan  O.  Free- 
man produced  testimonials  of  his  dismission  from  the 
Presbytery  of  Orange,  and  was  received  as  a  member 
of  Presbytery.  He  had  come  to  Salisbury  some  time  be- 
fore, for  he  closed  a  session  of  his  school  in  Salisbury 
early  in  the  year  1821,  as  published  in  The  Western 
Carolinian.  Dr.  Freeman  remained  in  Salisbury  until 
the  fall  of  1826,  when  he  removed  to  Raleigh.  After 
this  he  labored  in  the  bounds  of  Orange  Presbytery 
and  in  Virginia  for  a  number  of  years.  He  was  an 
excellent  teacher  of  the  classics,  and  a  number  of  our 


DR.    J.    J.     SUMMERELL 


THE  CHURCHES  OF  ROWAN  375 

prominent  men,  as  Hon.  Burton  Craige  and  Dr.  Joseph 
W.  Hall,  were  prepared  for  college  by  him.  He  died 
in  Washington,  N.  C,  in  1835,  in  the  sixty-third  year 
of  his  age. 

Dr.  Freeman's  son,  Edmund  B.  Freeman,  was  clerk 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  North  Carolina,  from  1836 
to  1868,  thirty-two  years. 

The  Rev.  Jesse  Rankin,  a  native  of  Guilford  County, 
was  invited  to  Salisbury  as  principal  of  the  Academy 
and  supply  to  the  church.  He  came  in  January,  1827, 
and  remained  until  about  the  close  of  1830,  four  years. 
During  the  period  of  his  ministry  here  there  were 
twenty-seven  additions  to  the  church,  an  average  of 
nearly  seven  each  year.  For  the  first  fifty  years  of  its 
existence  there  was  an  addition  of  four  hundred  and 
six  persons  to  its  communion,  an  average  of  eight 
each  year.  From  183 1  to  1836,  the  Rev.  Thomas 
Espy  and  the  Rev.  P.  J.  Sparrow  served  the  Salisbury 
and  Thyatira  Churches,  each  one  year.  Mr.  Espy 
died,  April  16,  1833,  and  his  remains  were  deposited 
in  the  Lutheran  graveyard  in  Salisbury,  where  a  mar- 
ble slab  commemorates  his  life  and  labors.  Mr.  Spar- 
row was  called  from  the  Salisbury  Church  to  the 
Professorship  of  Languages  in  Davidson  College, 
whither  he  went  in  1737.  He  afterwards  became  presi- 
dent of  Hampden  -  Sidney  College.  He  died  a  few 
years  since  near  Pensacola,  Fla.  In  the  year  1832, 
a  remarkable  revival  of  religion  occurred  in  this 
church,  under  the  preaching  of  the  Rev.  A.  D.  Mont- 
gomery, by  which  many  were  added  to  the  church. 
From   1836  till   1845,  the  Rev.   Stephen   Frontis   was 


376  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

pastor  of  this  church,  and  forty-four  were  added  to 
the  church  during  his  ministry.  ]\Ir.  Frontis  died  a 
few  years  ago,  and  sleeps  in  the  graveyard  of  Pros- 
pect Church.  On  the  first  of  February,  1846,  the  Rev. 
Archibald  Baker,  a  native  of  Robeson  County,  became 
pastor  of  the  church  and  continued  until  1859,  a  period 
of  thirteen  years,  and  one  hundred  and  fifty-six  com- 
municants were  added  under  his  ministry.  Mr.  Ba- 
ker was  a  devout,  earnest,  and  amiable  ser^-ant  of  the 
Lord,  and  his  memory  is  still  cherished  by  the  older 
members  of  the  church.  He  was  stricken  down  while 
speaking  in  Center  Church,  in  his  native  county,  and 
died  in  the  harness. 

On  the  third  Sunday  of  November,  i860,  the  Rev. 
Jethro  Rumple  began  his  work  as  pastor  of  the  Salis- 
bury Church,  and  continued  until  the  present  time. 
During  the  twenty  years  of  his  ministry  there  have 
been  two  hundred  and  forty  additions  to  the  church. 

In  closing  this  sketch  there  are  two  or  three  facts 
that  may  interest  the  reader.  The  first  is,  that  from 
the  beginning  this  church  maintained  a  well  conducted 
Sunday  School,  in  which  many  of  the  most  devoted 
members  of  the  congregation  were  teachers.  The 
principal  superintendents  of  the  Sunday  School  have 
been,  Thomas  L.  Cowan,  J.  J.  Blackwood,  Colonel 
Samuel  Lemly,  D.  A.  Davis,  PhilHp  L.  Sink,  William 
Murdock,  J.  J.  Bruner,  Samuel  H.  Wiley,  and  J.  D. 
McNeely.  Most  of  those  who  are  now  members  of 
the  church  were  once  pupils  in  the  Sunday  School, 
and  received  their  early  religious  impressions  in  that 
nursery  of  the  church. 


THE  CHURCHES  OF  ROWAN"  377 

Another  element  of  success  in  the  church  has  been 
its  earnest  and  faithful  office-bearers,  embracing  many 
of  the  most  highly  esteemed  and  influential  citizens  of 
the  town.     The  ruling  elders  have  been  as   follows : 

Albert  Torrence,  Thomas  L.  Cowan,  Dr.  Alexander 
Long,  Michael  Brown,  Samuel  Lemly,  Philip  L.  Sink, 
D.  A.  Davis,  J.  J.  Bruner,  William  Alurdock,  Thomas 
McNeely,  Dr.  J.  J.  Summerell,  J.  S.  McCubbins,  Julius 
D.  McNeely,  E.  H.  Marsh,  R.  A.  Knox,  and  Orin  D. 
Davis.  The  deacons  have  been  JuHus  D.  Ramsay,  J. 
J.     Summerell,     M.     D.,     Obadiah     Woodson,     John 

D.  Brown,  James  S.  ]\IcCubbins,  J.  A.  Bradshaw, 
John  A.  Ramsey,  John  M.  Horah,  Julius  D.  ]\IcXeely, 

E.  H.  Marsh,  J.  K.  Burke,  T.  B.  Beall,  R.  A.  Knox, 
Theodore  F.  Kluttz,  Samuel  H.  \\^iley,  \\\  L.  Kluttz, 
and  Hugh  M.  Jones. 

Another  element  of  success  has  been  that  the  church 
has  had  few  and  brief  periods  of  vacancy,  and  very 
little  serious  internal  dissension.  Upon  the  departure 
of  one  pastor  the  congregation  speedily  agreed  upon 
and  secured  another,  and  the  work  thus  went  on  with- 
out intermission. 

Another  characteristic  of  the  church  is  that  it  has 
always  diligently  fostered  schools  and  colleges.  Its 
early  ministers  were  teachers,  and  in  later  days  it  has 
maintained  excellent  male  and  female  academies 
where  every  child  in  the  congregation  has  free  access 
for  ten  months  in  the  year.  As  a  result  many  of  the 
youth  have  been  prepared  for  the  higher  schools  and 
colleges,  where  they  have  received  the  benefits  of  a 
liberal  education,  and  have  been  enabled  to  enter  the 


378  HISTORY   OF  ROWAN   COUNTY 

liberal  professions,  and  grace  the  cultivated  circles  of 
society. 

Within  the  past  ten  years  the  following  sons  of  this 
church  have  entered  the  ministry  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church :  Rev.  William  H.  Davis,  now  laboring  in 
Henderson  County ;  Rev.  John  W.  Davis,  missionary 
in  Soochow,  China ;  Rev.  Branch  G.  Clifford,  in  Union- 
ville,  S.  C. ;  Rev.  J.  A.  Ramsay,  in  Rowan  County, 
N.  C. ;  Rev.  J.  X.  H.  Summer^dlle,  in  Cabarrus 
County,  and  K.  P.  Julian,  now  in  his  last  year  at  the 
Theological  Seminary.  Bryant  D.  Thomas,  who  was 
received  into  this  church  between  1826  and  1830,  be- 
came a  minister  and  preached  in  the  W^est.  He  died  a 
few  years  ago. 

Third  Creek  Church  sent  out  a  number  of  useful 
ministers,  among  whom  were  Abner  and  Josiah  Kil- 
patrick,  sons  of  Rev.  Joseph  D.  Kilpatrick;  William 
H.  Johnston,  B.  S.  Krider,  William  A.  Wood,  and  R. 
Z.  Johnston.  Among  the  ministers  born  in  Back 
Creek,  were  Silas  Andrews,  J.  Scott  Barr,  John  A. 
Barr,  and  R.  W^  Shive  of  Mississippi.  The  Presby- 
terian Churches  of  Rowan  have  been  served  by  more 
than  fifty  different  ministers,  and  have  sent  out  prob- 
ably not  more  than  twenty-five  or  thirty  into  the 
work,  and  not  more  than  a  half-dozen  of  these  who 
have  sers^ed  her  churches  have  been  natives  of  Rowan 
County. 


TAMES    K.    POLK 


the  churches  of  rowan  379 

President  Polk's  Forefathers  and  Thyatira 
Church 

James  K.  Polk,  eleventh  President  of  the  United 
States,  was  born  in  Mecklenburg  County,  November, 
1795.  His  mother  was  Jean,  daughter  of  James 
Knox,  of  Rowan  County.  This  James  was  the  son  of 
John  Knox,  who  was  a  native  of  Scotland,  born  about 
1708,  and  who  went  from  Scotland  to  Ireland  with 
other  emigrants,  by  invitation  of  the  King  of  England, 
to  constitute  a  balance  of  power  against  the  insurgent 
Irish  Catholics.  He  married  an  Irish  Presbyterian, 
Jean  Gracy,  whose  mother's  name  was  Jean  Sinclair, 
a  relative  of  the  mother  (a  Sinclair)  of  John  Knox 
the  Reformer. 

This  John  and  Jean  came  with  other  immigrants  to 
America,  about  1740,  and  were  among  the  early  set- 
tlers of  Rowan  County,  buying  six  hundred  acres  of 
land  on  the  south  side  of  Third  Creek,  for  thirty- 
seven  pounds,  ten  shillings  (£37/10),  which  land  had 
been  granted  by  Earl  Granville  to  James  Stewart. 

For  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  an  old 
stone  stood  in  the  Thyatira  Churchyard,  inscribed  as 
follows : 

here  the  body  lys  of 

john  knox 

who  deceased  october  ye  25,  1 758 

aged  fifty  years 

also  here  lys  the  body  of 

jean  knox 

HIS    WIFE 


380  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

WHO    DECEASED    SEPTEMBER     18,     I772 
AGED    SIXTY-FOUR    YEARS 


This  Stone  is  now  fitted  into  a  new  one,  with  this 
inscription : 

IN     MEMORY    OF 

JOHN     KNOX 
1708  -  1758 

AND     HIS     WIFE 

JEAN     G  R  A  C  Y 
1708-  1772 

NATIVES    OF    SCOTLAND 

ALSO   THEIR    SEVEN    SONS 

SOLDIERS    OF    THE     AMERICAN     REVOLUTION 

WILLIAM  SAMUEL 

JAMES 

(grandfather  of  PRESIDENT  JAMES   KNOX   POLK) 

ABSALOM  JOHN 

JOSEPH  BENJAMIN 

AND    THEIR    DAUGHTER 

MARY 

ERECTED    BY    THEIR    DESCENDANTS 

MAY   20,    191 1 

So  it  comes  about  that  from  Rowan  stock  was  pro- 
duced a  President,  which  fact  we  hope  the  good  old 
county  may  repeat  at  an  early  date. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 


LUTHER ANISM    IN    ROWAN 


The  Lutheran  Church  in  Rowan  County  is  com- 
posed chiefly,  but  not  exclusively,  of  the  descendants 
of  those  German  settlers  who  began  to  occupy  the 
county  about  1745.  Fortunately  for  the  history  of 
this  people,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Bernheim,  in  his  book,  en- 
titled ''History  of  the  German  Settlements  and  of  the 
Lutheran  Church  in  the  Carolinas,"  has  gathered  up 
and  preserved  the  traditions  and  documents  that  tell 
the  story  of  their  settlement  and  religious  life.  The 
author  of  these  pages  had  intended  that  this  chapter 
should  be  written  by  a  minister  or  layman  of  the 
Lutheran  Church,  but  succeeded  only  in  securing  a 
very  brief  but  most  interesting  Sketch  of  Organ 
Church,  by  the  Rev.  Samuel  Rothrock.  For  the  gen- 
eral account  he  is  indebted  to  Dr.  Bernheim's  interest- 
ing volume,  which  has  been  freely  used  in  composing 
this  chapter. 

St.  John's  Lutheran  Church  in  Salisbury  is  entitled 
to  the  distinction  of  being  the  oldest  Lutheran  con- 
gregation organized  in  the  Province  of  X^orth  Carolina. 

In  the  year  1768,  John  Lewis  Beard,  a  wealthy 
citizen  of  Salisbury,  and  a  member  of  the  Lutheran 
Church,  was  bereaved  by  the  death  of  a  daughter,  and 
her  body  was  interred  in  a  lot  of  ground  owned  by  her 


382  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

father.  To  prevent  her  remains  from  being  disturbed 
by  the  march  of  civilization,  ]\Ir.  Beard  executed  a 
deed  for  the  lot,  containing  one  hundred  and  forty- 
four  square  poles,  to  a  body  of  trustees  of  the  Evan- 
gelical Lutheran  congregation,  of  the  township  of 
Salisbury,  allowing  ministers  of  the  High  Church  of 
England  to  occupy  it  when  not  used  by  the  Lutherans. 
Upon  this  lot,  now  known  as  the  Lutheran  graveyard, 
or  Salisbury  Cemetery,  the  congregation  soon  after 
erected  a  log  church,  or  block-house.  All  this  was 
in  preparation  for  some  minister  whom  they  expected 
in  time  to  obtain.  Five  years  later,  in  1773,  the  Rev. 
Adolph  Nussmann,  a  ripe  and  thorough  scholar,  and 
devoted  and  self-sacrificing  Christian,  was  induced  to 
come  from  Germany  to  Rowan  County.  After  labor- 
ing in  Salisbury  and  Organ  Church  for  a  short  time, 
Mr.  Xussmann  removed  from  Salisbury  and  took 
charge  of  Buffalo  Creek  Church — St.  John's — in 
Mecklenburg,  now  Cabarrus.  At  the  same  time  that 
Mr.  Xussmann  came  from  Germany,  ]\Ir.  Gottfried 
Ahrend  came  over  as  schoolmaster.  As  ministers 
were  much  needed,  and  ]\Ir.  Ahrend  was  qualified,  he 
was  ordained  to  the  work  of  the  ministry  in  1775. 
As  he  preached  at  Organ  Church — then  called  Zion's 
Church — from  1775  to  1785,  it  is  probable  that  part  of 
his  time  was  devoted  to  the  Salisbury  Church.  In 
1785,  yiv.  Ahrend  removed  from  Rowan  to  Lincoln 
County.  For  twelve  years  these  two  Lutheran  minis- 
ters, with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Beuthahn,  a  German  Reformed 
minister,  labored  among  the  German  population  of 
Rowan,   Cabarrus,  Lincoln,   Catawba,   Iredell,   David- 


LUTHERANISM    IN    ROWAN  383 

son,  Guilford,  and  other  counties.  At  this  time  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Harris,  and  after  him  the  Rev.  Samuel  E. 
McCorkle,was  preaching  to  the  Presbyterians  at  Thya- 
tira.  Rev.  James  Hall  in  Iredell,  and  Rev.  David  Cald- 
v^ell  in  Guilford.  These  seven  were  breaking  the 
bread  of  life  to  the  thousands  of  people  in  this  vast 
region. 

Soon  after  the  arrival  of  Messrs.  Nussmann  and 
Ahrend,  the  Revolutionary  War  opened,  and  for  nearly 
eight  years  all  correspondence  with  the  Fatherland  was 
cut  off,  and  the  congregations  and  ministers  of  Rowan 
were  left  to  their  own  resources.  No  ministers,  no 
books,  no  material  aid  or  sympathy  came  to  cheer 
them.  Besides  this,  Mr.  Nussmann  was  persecuted 
by  the  Tories,  and  forced  to  seek  safety  by  hiding 
himself  in  a  secure  retreat,  not  far  from  his  residence 
on  Dutch  Buffalo.  At  the  close  of  the  war,  Mr.  Nuss- 
mann reopened  correspondence  with  friends  in  Ger- 
many, and  in  1787  the  Lutheran  Church  in  North 
Carolina  was  put  into  connection  with  the  parent 
church.  A  supply  of  books  was  obtained  from  Helm- 
stadt,  in  the  Duchy  of  Brunswick,  and  a  call  for  sev- 
eral ministers  to  labor  in  North  Carolina  was  preferred 
by  Pastor  Nussman  to  Dr.  Velthusen.  In  1787,  the 
Rev.  Christian  Eberhard  Bernhardt,  a  native  of  Stutt- 
gard,  was  sent  to  Rowan.  His  first  charge  was  on 
Abbott's  Creek,  Davidson  County,  where  he  labored 
for  a  year.  He  afterwards  labored  for  several  years 
in  Stokes,  Forsyth,  and  Guilford  Counties,  and  in  1800 
removed  to  South  Carolina. 


384  HISTORY   OF  ROWAX    COUNTY 

The  year  1788  was  signalized  by  the  arrival  in 
Rowan  of  one  who  may  be  called  the  apostle  of  the 
Lutheran  Church  in  Rowan.  This  was  the  Rev.  Carl 
August  Gottlieb  Storch.  He  was  sent  out  by  the 
Helmstadt  Missionary  Society,  and  was  a  native  of 
Helmstadt,  and  educated  at  the  University  of  that  city. 
Upon  his  arrival  he  took  charge  of  the  Salisbury, 
Pine,  and  Organ  Churches.  The  Pine  Church— -i.ow 
called  Union — he  soon  resigned,  and  the  next  year 
began  to  preach  in  the  "Irish  Settlement,"  once  a 
month,  for  which  he  was  promised  thirteen  or  fourteen 
pounds,  about  thirty-five  dollars.  His  salary  for  the 
two  churches  of  Salisbury  and  Organ  was  eighty 
pounds  (£80),  paper  money,  equal  to  two  hundred 
dollars.  The  fees  for  funerals  and  marriage  cere- 
monies averaged  one  dollar  each,  and  may  have 
amounted  to  fifty  dollars  annually,  the  whole  amount- 
ing to  nearly  three  hundred  dollars.  With  the  simple 
habits  of  those  early  days,  and  the  cheapness  of  the 
necessaries  of  life,  this  salary  of  three  hundred  dollars 
was  more  liberal  than  the  average  minister's  salary  of 
these  days.  Besides  having  charge  of  these  churches, 
Mr.  Storch  had  charge  of  a  small  German  school  in 
Salisbury,  and  gave  instructions  in  Hebrew  to  some 
pupils  in  the  Salisbury  Academy.  \\'hether  he  re- 
alized any  income  from  the  schools  is  not  known.  Not 
long  after  this  he  married  Miss  Christine  Beard, 
daughter  of  John  Lewis  Beard,  and  lived  in  the  house 
on  the  corner  of  Main  and  Franklin  Streets.  After 
this  he  removed  to  what  is  now  known  as  the  Chilson 
place,  one  and  a  half  miles  east  of  Salisbury.     A  few 


LUTHERANISM    IN    ROWAN  385 

years  afterward  he  gave  up  the  SaHsbury  Church,  and 
moved  ten  miles  south  of  SaHsbury,  on  the  New  Con- 
cord Road,  convenient  to  his  three  churches,  Organ, 
Savitz's,  and  Dutch  Buffalo.  Here  he  spent  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life.  On  the  twenty-seventh  of  March, 
183 1,  Dr.  Storch  died,  aged  nearly  sixty-seven  years. 
His  dust  reposes  in  the  graveyard  of  the  Organ 
Church,  where  a  suitable  stone  marks  the  spot  and 
commemorates  his  life  and  labors.  He  was  a  ripe 
scholar,  familiar  with  the  Hebrew,  Greek,  and  Latin 
languages,  and  it  is  said  that  he  could  converse  fluently 
in  five  or  six  different  tongues.  Abundant  in  labor, 
crowned  with  honors,  and  rich  in  the  affections  of  his 
people,  he  departed  full  of  faith  and  hope  in  the  Re- 
deemer. His  long  service  of  more  than  forty  years, 
including  the  critical  period  of  his  people's  transition 
from  the  use  of  the  German  to  the  use  of  the  English 
language,  did  much  to  preserve  Lutheranism  from  de- 
cay and  extinction  in  Rowan  County.  It  is  because 
of  his  labors,  doubtless,  that  the  Lutherans  are,  at 
the  present  day,  equal  in  numbers  to  all  other  denomi- 
nations together  in  this  county. 

But  to  return.  A  few  months  after  Mr.  Storch's 
arrival,  in  1788,  Rev.  Arnold  Roschen,  a  native  of 
Bremen,  was  sent  to  North  Carolina  by  the  Helmstadt 
Mission  Society,  and  upon  his  arrival  began  his  labors 
on  Abbott's   Creek,  now  in  Davidson  County. 

We  may  mention  in  passing  that,  in  1791,  the  pres- 
ent massive  stone  church  was  erected  for  the  Organ 
congregation,  and  an  organ  of  excellent  quality  was 
built  by  Mr.  Steigerwalt,  one  of  the  members  of  the 


386  HISTORY   OF   ROWAX    COUNTY 

church.  As  this  organ  was  the  first  and  only  instru- 
ment of  the  kind  in  the  county  it  gave  the  name  to  the 
church,  which  it  retains  to  this  day. 

In  1794,  the  Lutheran  pastors,  Nussmann,  Ahrend, 
Roschen,  Bernhardt,  and  Storch,  ordained  to  the  work 
of  the  ministry  Robert  Johnson  Aliller,  obHging  him 
to  obey  the  ''Rules,  ordinances,  and  customs  of  the 
Christian  Society  called  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  in  America."  This  was  a  singular  proceeding, 
but  the  request  was  made  by  Mr.  Miller,  and  a  con- 
gregation in  Lincoln  County  which  desired  his  serv- 
ices, and  it  is  said  was  counseled  by  the  Presbyterians. 
Mr.  Miller  afterwards  sought  and  obtained  Episcopal 
ordination  at  the  hands  of  Bishop  Ravenscroft. 

The  number  of  Lutheran  ministers  in  North  Caro- 
lina was  reduced  by  the  death  of  Mr.  Nussmann  in 
1794,  the  removal  of  Mr.  Bernhardt  to  South  Carolina 
in  1800,  and  the  return  of  Roschen  to  Germany  the 
same  year.  Dr.  Storch  w^as  however  reinforced  by 
the  Rev.  Adam  N.  Marcand,  who  became  pastor  of 
St.  John's  Church,  Cabarrus,  in  1797.  He  however 
remained  but  two  years.  In  1801,  the  Rev.  Philip 
Henkel,  from  Virginia,  took  charge  of  the  Guilford 
pastorate.  Thus  far  the  church  seems  to  have  de- 
pended upon  foreign  supplies  for  the  pulpit.  But  a 
change  was  taking  place  that  looked  toward  a  home 
supply.  On  the  second  day  of  May,  1803,  the  Rev. 
Messrs.  Gottfried  Ahrend,  Robert  J.  Miller,  C.  A.  G. 
Storch,  and  Paul  Henkel,  with  a  number  of  elders  and 
deacons,  met  in  Salisbury,  and  formed  the  North  Caro- 
lina Synod  of  the  Lutheran  Church.     From  this  time 


LUTHERANISM    IN    ROWAN  387 

the  work  went  on  more  systematically.  From  the 
annual  report  of  the  Rev.  Paul  Henkel,  in  1806,  we 
learn  the  state  of  the  church  in  Xorth  Carolina  at  that 
date. 

In  Orange  and  Guilford  Counties  there  were  three 
Lutheran  churches  and  one  "joint"  church — that  is 
Lutheran  and  German  Reformed — served  by  Philip 
Henkel.  In  Rowan,  east  of  the  Yadkin,  there  were 
three  ''joint,"  and  one  Lutheran  churches,  served  by 
Rev.  Paul  Henkel,  afterwards  by  Ludwig  Markert. 
In  the  vicinity  of  Salisbury  three  strong  Lutheran 
churches  enjoyed  the  ministry  of  the  Rev.  C.  A,  G. 
Storch  for  nearly  twenty  years.  This  report  represents 
that  about  twenty  years  previous  to  that  time  there 
had  been  a  tolerably  strong  German  congregation  in 
Salisbury,  but  as  the  German  people  and  their  lan- 
guage were  changed  into  the  English,  the  German 
worship  soon  became  extinct.  The  three  strong 
churches  mentioned  in  the  report,  were  doubtless  the 
Pine  Church — now  Union,  the  Organ  Church,  and 
Savitz's  —  now  Lutheran  Chapel  —  once  called  the 
Irish  Settlement.  The  report  goes  on  to  state  that 
near  Buffalo  Creek,  Cabarrus,  there  is  one  of  the 
strongest  Lutheran  churches,  served  by  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Storch.  About  eighteen  miles  west  of  Salisbury — I 
suppose  near  the  present  Troutman's  depot — there  was 
another  Lutheran  church.  Also  in  Lincoln  County 
there  were  eight  or  nine  German  congregations,  mostly 
''joint,"  served  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Ahrend.  There  were 
churches  also  in  \\^ilkes,  Stokes,  and  other  counties. 


HISTORY  OF  ROWAN    COUNTY 

In  1805  the  Synod  ordained  Philip  Henkel  to  the 
full  work  of  the  ministry,  and  licensed  John  ^lichael 
Rueckert  and  Ludwig  ]\Iarkert.  At  a  meeting  of  the 
Synod,  October  22,  1810,  held  at  Organ  Church,  there 
were  present  ten  ministers  and  a  number  of  lay  dele- 
gates. This  Synod  ordained  Gottlieb  Schober  as  a 
Lutheran  minister.  ]\lr.  Schober  continued  to  be  a 
member  of  the  ^Moravian  Church  to  the  end  of  his 
days,  while  at  the  same  time  he  was  a  Lutheran 
minister  and  pastor  of  several  Lutheran  churches. 
These  excusable  irregularities,  such  as  the  ordination 
of  ]\Iiller  and  Schober,  give  evidence  of  a  fraternal 
feeling  between  the  different  churches  of  that  day, 
and  became  necessary  because  of  the  great  scarcity  of 
laborers  in  the  whitening  harvests  on  all  sides. 

At  this  same  Synod  of  1810,  Jacob  Scherer  and 
Godfrey  Dreher  were  licensed,  and  the  limited  license 
of  Catechists  Rueckert  and  Jacob  Kreison  were  re- 
newed. Twenty-three  churches  were  reported,  of 
which  three  were  in   Rowan. 

In  181 1,  the  Xorth  Carolina  Synod,  endued  with 
the  true  spirit  of  missions,  sent  out  several  exploring 
missionaries  to  learn  the  condition  of  the  Lutheran 
congregations  in  South  Carolina,  Virginia,  Tennessee, 
and  Ohio.  The  Rev.  Messrs.  Miller,  Franklow,  and 
Scherer  were  the  missionaries,  and  they  traveled  and 
preached  the  gospel  in  distant  regions.  In  1813,  David 
Henkel,  J.  J.  Schmucker,  and  Daniel  Moser  were 
licensed  to  preach  the  gospel.  In  the  year  1814,  it  is 
estimated  that  there  were  twenty-one  ministers  in  the 
Synod  of  Xorth  Carolina,  including  those  laboring  in 


LUTHERAXISM    IX    ROWAX  389 

South  Carolina ;  and  eighty-five  in  the  whole  United 
States. 

The  remainder  of  the  history  of  the  Lutheran 
Church,  so  far  as  these  sketches  propose  to  give  it,  will 
be  found  in  a  brief  and  interesting  account  of  the 
Organ  Church,  prepared  by  its  present  pastor,  the  Rev. 
Samuel  Rothrock,  to  which  will  be  added  a  sketch  of 
St.  John's  Church,  Salisbury,  since  its  reorganization, 
and  a  general  statement  as  to  the  ministers,  churches, 
and  number  of  communicants  as  they  now  exist. 

Organ  Evangelical  Lutherax  Church 

The  first  organization  of  a  congregation  at  this  place 
dates  back  more  than  a  century.  The  original  mem- 
bers were  Germans,  few  in  number,  but  devotedly  at- 
tached to  the  church  of  their  choice.  The  services, 
and  records  in  the  church-book,  were  all  in  the  Ger- 
man language.  From  the  German  church-book,  which 
is  well  preserved,  we  gather  the  principal  items  in  re- 
lation to  the  history  of  this  congregation.  The  fol- 
lowing is  a  translation  from  the  records  of  the  church- 
book,  and  in  the  translation  the  German  orthography 
of  names  is  preserved,  and  the  present  English 
orthography  thrown  in  parentheses. 

Traxslatiox" 

In  the  year  A.  D.  1774,  the  following  members  of 
our  congregation  commenced  to  build  the  so-called 
Organ  Church,  viz. : 

Georg  Ludwig  Sififert  (George  Lewis  Sifford), 
Wendel  ^Miller,  Peter  Edelmann   fEddleman),  Johan- 


390  HISTORY  OF   ROWAX   COUNTY 

nes  Steigerwalt  (John  Stirewald),  Philipp  Gruss 
(Philip  Cruse),  Peter  Steigerwalt  (Stirewalt),  ]\Iich- 
ael  Guthmann  f Goodman),  Christoph  Bless  (Christo- 
pher Pless),  Leonhard  Siffert  (Sifford),  Jacob  Klein 
(Cline),  Anton  J.  Kuhn  (Anthony  J.  Koon),  Georg 
Heinrich  Berger  (George  Henry  Barger),  Christoph 
Guthmann  (Christopher  Goodman),  Johannes  Rintel- 
mann  (John  Rendleman),  Johannes  Eckel  (John 
Eagle),  Bastian  Lenz  (Bostian  Lentz),  Jacob  Benz 
(Bentz),  Georg  Eckel  (George  Eagle),  Franz  Ober- 
kirsch  (Francis  Overcash),  Johannes  Jose  (John 
Josey),  Heinrich  Wenzel  (Henry). 

A  majority  of  the  aforementioned  members  united 
in  the  year  1772,  and  resolved  to  solicit  for  themselves 
a  preacher  and  school-teacher  from  the  Hanoverian 
Consistory  in  Germany.  For  in  their  time,  Xorth 
Carolina,  together  with  all  the  other  now  free  Ameri- 
can States,  were  under  the  King  of  England,  who  was 
likewise  Elector  of  Hanover.  Cliristoph  Rintelmann 
(Christopher  Rendleman)  and  Christoph  Layrle 
(Christopher  Lyerly),  were  sent  to  London  as  deputies 
from  the  congregation,  from  which  place  they  jour- 
neyed to  Hanover,  and  through  Goetten,  the  counselor 
of  the  Consistory,  obtained  a  preacher  and  school- 
teacher, viz. :  as  preacher,  Adolph  Nussman ;  and  for 
school-teacher,  Gottfried  Ahrend.  Both  arrived  safely 
in  America  in  the  year  1773.  At  this  time  there  was 
but  one  common  church  for  Reformed  and  Lutherans 
equally,  the  so-called  Hickeri  (Hickory)  Church.  One 
year  the  new  pastor  preached  in  this  church,  but  some 
disharmony  arose,  and  a  majority  of  the  Lutherans 


LUTHERANISM    IN   ROWAN  39I 

resolved  to  build  for  themselves  an  own  church,  and 
thus  organized  Organ  Church.  But  before  this  church 
was  built,  Nussnian  left  the  congregation  and  devoted 
himself  to  Buffalo  Creek.  Whereupon,  the  congrega- 
tion, which  before  had  one  church  and  one  school- 
teacher, but  now  no  preacher,  procured  the  aforemen- 
tioned Gottfried  Ahrend  to  be  ordained  to  the  office  of 
preacher  in  the  year  1775.  He  served  the  congregation 
until  1785,  when  he  devoted  himself  to  Catawba  River, 
residing  in  Lincoln  County  until  the  close  of  his  life. 
For  two  years  Xussman  serv^ed  the  congregation  again, 
but  he  left  the  church  for  the  second  time.  From 
1787  to  1788,  the  congregation  had  no  preacher.  Gott- 
fried Ahrend  came  once  in  a  while.  In  1788,  at  the 
desire  and  petition  of  Nussman,  a  preacher,  viz. : 
Charles  Augustus  Gottlieb  Storch,  was  sent  from  Ger- 
many, who,  according  to  Nussman's  assignment,  was 
to  go  to  Stinking  Quarter,  in  Orange  County.  Various 
circumstances  transpired  that  he  did  not  wish  to  go 
to  Stinking  Quarter,  but  resolved  to  take  charge  of  the 
congregation  at  Organ  Church  and  the  one  in  the 
town  of  Salisbury.  He  entered  his  services  in  the 
former  on  the  twenty-sixth  day  of  October,  1787, 
i.  e.,  the  twenty-third  Sunday  after  Trinity ;  and  in  the 
town  the  second  Sunday  of  November,  i.  e.,  the  twen- 
ty-fourth Sunday  after  Trinity  in  the  same  year.  The 
congregation  at  Organ  Church  promised  their  preacher 
a  yearly  salary  of  forty  pounds  (£40),  North  Carolina 
currency.     The  number  of  those  who  subscribed  to  the 


392  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

salary,  as  well  as  to  the  new  church  regulations, 
amounted  to  seventy-eight  persons. 

The  new  church  regulations  referred  to  above, 
very  concise  and  wholesome  in  their  nature,  were  in- 
troduced and  adopted  on  the  first  day  of  January, 
1789,  are  upon  record  in  the  church-book,  but  are  not 
here   translated. 

The  following  ministers  have  been  the  successive 
pastors  of  Organ  Church: 

Rev.  Adolphus  Nussman,  from  1773  to  1774,  one 
year;  Godfrey  Ahrend,  1775  to  1785,  ten  years;  Adol- 
phus Nussman,  1785  to  1787,  two  years.  The  church 
was  now  vacant  for  one  year,  and  was  visited  oc- 
casionally by  Rev.  Gottfried  Ahrend. 

Rev.  Charles  A.  G.  Storch,  from  1788  to  1823, 
thirty-five  years;  Daniel  Scherer,  1823  to  1829,  six 
years;  Jacob  Ksempfer,  1829  to  1832,  three  years; 
Henry  Graber,  1832  to  1843,  eleven  years;  Samuel 
Rothrock,  1844  to  1866,  twenty-two  years;  W.  H. 
Cone,    from    January    i,    1866,    to    ]May,    1866,    four 

months;  William  Artz,  ]May  i,  1866, ;  Samuel 

Rothrock,  from  July  i,  1868,  to  January  i,  1869,  six 
months ;  Revs.  S.  Scherer  and  W.  H.  Cone,  from  Jan- 
uary I,  1869,  to  January  i,  1870,  one  year;  W.  H. 
Cone,  January  i,  1870,  to  May  i,  1873,  three  years  and 
four  months;  W.  R.  Ketchie,  from  June,  1873,  to  Jan- 
uary, 1874,  seven  months;  P.  A.  Strobel  from  January 
I,  1874,  to  October  i,  1875,  one  year  and  eight  months ; 
Samuel  Rothrock,  from  January  i,  1876,  and  still  pas- 
tor, December,  1880. 


lutheran  ism  in  rowan  393 

St.  John's  Church,  Salisbury 

Though  this  is  the  oldest  Lutheran  church  in  North 
Carolina,  there  was  for  a  considerable  period  such  a 
decline  as  almost  amounted  to  extinction.  Still  there 
were  Lutherans  here,  and  they  owned  a  lot  and  build- 
ing that  were  used  by  occasional  ministers  of  their 
own  faith  as  well  as  by  other  denominations.  In  1822, 
steps  were  taken  to  secure  its  reorganization.  The  Rev. 
Gottlieb  Schober,  president  of  the  Synod  that  year, 
addressed  a  letter  to  the  Lutherans  of  Salisbury  urging 
them  to  gather  up  their  forces,  re-constitute  their 
church,  and  claim  their  property.  This  letter  had  the 
desired  effect,  for  the  adherents  of  the  church  met,  and 
a  paper  was  drawn  up  by  the  Hon.  Charles  Fisher 
pledging  the  signers  to  reorganize  the  church.  This 
paper  was  dated  September  20,  1822,  and  was  signed 
by  the  following  persons,  viz. :  John  Beard,  Sr., 
Charles  Fisher,  Daniel  Cress,  Peter  Crider,  John  Trex- 
ler,  John  Beard,  Jr.,  Peter  H.  Swink,  Moses  Brown, 
John  H.  Swink,  Bernhardt  Kreiter,  Lewis  Utzman, 
H.  Allemong,  M.  Bruner,  John  Albright,  and  Henry 
Swinkwag.  Efforts  were  at  once  made  to  secure  a 
minister,  but  without  success.  About  this  time  a 
fence  was  placed  around  the  graveyard,  which  had  lain 
for  some  time  in  a  neglected  condition.  In  1825,  the 
work  of  reorganization  was  begun  again,  and  ^Messrs. 
John  Beard,  Sr.,  George  Vogler,  and  Moses  Brown 
were  elected  elders,  and  Messrs.  Nathan  Brown, 
George  Fraley,  and  Henry  C.  Kern,  deacons.  During 
the  following  year,   1826,  the  church  was  successful 


394  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

in  its  efforts  to  secure  the  Rev.  John  Reck,  of  ]\lary- 
land,  as  pastor.  He  found  but  fourteen  members  at 
his  arrival;  but  the  next  year  there  were  thirty  mem- 
bers in  full  communion.  Mr.  Reck  remained  with 
the  church  five  years,  and  his  labors  among  them  were 
greatly  blessed.  In  183 1.,  the  pastor  resigned  and  re- 
turned to  Maryland.  "After  this  time  the  congrega- 
tion had  such  a  continued  and  rapid  succession  of  min- 
isters, besides  having  been  at  times  unsupplied  with 
the  stated  means  of  grace,  as  not  to  be  enabled  to  com- 
mand the  influence  which  the  regular  ministrations  of 
a  permanent  pastor  might  have  given  it." 

The  following  roll  of  its  pastors  is  made  up,  partly 
from  the  pages  of  Dr.  Bemheim's  History,  and  partly 
from  the  recollection  and  memoranda  of  ]Mr.  B.  F. 
Fraley,  and  is  believed  to  be  accurate. 

Rev.  John  Reck,  1826  to  1831. 

Rev.  Air.  Tabler. 

Rev.  William  D.  Strobel,  D.  D. 

Rev.  Air.  Rosenmuller. 

Rev.  Edwin  A.   Bolles,  of  South  Carolina,  in 


I 
2 

3 
4 
5 

1835 
6 

7 
8 

9 
10 
II 

12 
13 


Rev.  Samuel  Rothrock,  first  time,  1836. 

Rev.  Daniel  Jenkins. 

Rev.  John  D.  Sheck,  of  South  Carolina,  1840. 

Rev.  J.  B.  Anthony,  1844  to  1846. 

Rev.  J.  H.  Coffman,  1848. 

Rev.  Daniel  I.  Dreher. 

Rev.  Samuel  Rothrock  (second  time). 

Rev.  Levi  C.  Groseclose,  i860  to  1865. 


LUTHERANISM    IN    ROWAN  395 

14.  Rev.  N.  Aldrich,  of  South  Carolina,  1865  to 
1867. 

15.  Rev.  Simeon  Scherer,  1867  to  1872. 

16.  Rev.  \\^illiam  H.  Cone,  of  Virginia,  1870  to 
1872. 

17.  Rev.  J.  G.  Neiffer,  of  Pennsylvania,  1872  to 
1876. 

18.  Rev.  T.  W.  Dosh,  D.  D.,  of  South  Carolina, 
1876  to  1877. 

19.  Rev.  W.  J.  Smith,  of  Maryland,  1878 . 

If  to  these  nineteen  we  add  the  names  of  Nussman, 

Ahrend,  and  Storch,  we  have  a  succession  of  twenty- 
two  ministers  that  have  sen-ed  this  church  during  the 
one  hundred  and  nine  years  of  its  existence,  an  average 
of  one  minister  for  every  five  years.  The  church  now 
numbers  one  hundred  and  fifty-two  members,  and  it 
has  been  greatly  strengthened  in  members  and  in  re- 
sources within  the  last  dozen  years. 

The  present  condition  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in 
Rowan  County — its  churches,  ministers,  and  member- 
ship— as  gathered  from  the  Minutes,  is  as  follows : 

The  Rev.  Samuel  Rothrock's  charge,  Organ  Church 
and  Ebenezer,  has  three  hundred  members. 

Rev.  W.  J.  Smith's  charge,  St.  John's,  Salisbury, 
has  one  hundred  and  fifty-two  members. 

Rev.  W.  A.  Lutz's  charge  (in  Rowan),  St.  Enoch's 
Church,  has  three  hundred  and  three  members. 

Rev.  B.  S.  Brown's  charge,  Lutheran  Chapel,  Cen- 
ter Grove,  and  St.  Paul's,  has  four  hundred  and  eighty- 
six  members. 


396  HISTORY   OF   ROWAX    COUNTY 

Rev.  R.  L.  Brown's  charge,  Union  and  Christiana, 
has  two  hundred  and  forty  members. 

Rev.  H.  M.  Brown's  charge,  Bethel  and  Christ's 
Church,  has  one  hundred  and  fifteen  members. 

Rev.  V.  R.  Stickley's  charge,  St.  Luke's,  Salem,  and 
Grace  Church,  has  one  hundred  and  eighty-one  mem- 
bers. 

Rev.  J.  A.  Linn's  charge,  St.  Peter's,  St.  Matthew's, 
and  Luther's  Church,  has  three  hundred  and  fifty 
members. 

Rev.  Whitson  Kimball's  charge  (in  Rowan),  St. 
Stephen's  and  Gold  Hill,  has  one  hundred  and  fifty 
members.  The  whole  making  nine  ministers,  nineteen 
churches,  and  2,277  communicants. 

To  this  may  be  added,  the  Rev.  J.  C.  IMoser,  a 
member  of  the  Tennessee  Lutheran  Synod,  and  his 
three  churches  —  Mount  Moriah,  St.  Marks,  and 
Phanuel  —  embracing  one  hundred  and  seventy-five 
members. 

The  whole  summing  up  ten  ministers,  twenty-two 
churches,  and  2,452  members.  According  to  these 
statistics  the  Lutherans  have  more  ministers  in  Rowan 
than  the  Presbyterians,  ^lethodists.  Episcopalians,  and 
Missionary  Baptists  combined,  and  probably  nearly  as 
many  churches  and  communicants  as  all  the  other 
white  churches  in  the  county.  In  fact,  a  large  part  of 
the  strength  of  Lutheranism  in  North  CaroHna  is 
concentrated  in  Rowan  County. 


THE  INTRODUCTION  AND  GROWTH  OF 
METHODISM  IN  ROWAN  COUNTY 

BY    REV.    H.    T.    HUDSON,    D.    D. 


The  Approach  of  Methodism  Into  the  Rowan 
Section 

In  1780,  The  Yadkin  Curcuit  was  formed,  having 
only  twenty-one  members.  Andrew  Yeargan  was  the 
first  circuit  preacher  sent  to  this  new  field.  The 
church  records  no  clue  as  to  the  boundaries  of  this  cir- 
cuit, but  tradition  says  it  embraced  Stokes,  Davidson, 
Rowan  (then  including  Davie  County),  and  the  Surry 
regions.  About  this  time  the  pioneers  of  Methodism 
began  to  preach  at  various  points  in  Rowan.  There 
being  no  church  edifices,  they  were  obliged  to  preach 
in  private  houses,  barns,  schoolhouses,  and  under 
bush  arbors. 

In  1783,  Yadkin  Circuit  is  reported  as  having  three 
hundred  and  forty-eight  members,  a  growth  of  three 
hundred  and  sixty-two  in  three  years.  In  1784,  the 
Salisbury  circuit  is  entered  upon  the  minutes  of  the 
Conference,  being  organized  into  a  separate  pastoral 
charge,  Jesse  Lee  being  its  pastor.  ^Ir.  Lee  says  he 
found  a  "society  of  truly  affectionate  Christians"  in 
the  town  of  Salisbury.     \\'hen  this  society  was  organ- 


398  HISTORY   OF  ROWAX   COUNTY 

ized  he  does  not  state,  but  likely  it  was  formed  be- 
tween the  years  of  1780  and  1783. 

]\Ir.  Lee  says,  in  his  Journal :  "In  entering  upon  this 
field  of  labor,  he  was  greatly  encouraged  at  meeting 
large  congregations  of  anxious  hearers  at  all  of  his 
appointments.  Gracious  influences  attended  his  preach- 
ing, to  the  comfort  of  believers  and  the  awakening  of 
sinners ;  his  own  soul  was  greatly  blessed  while  striv- 
ing to  bless  others."  While  preaching  "at  Hern's"  his 
own  soul  was  filled  so  full  of  love  that  he  burst  "into 
a  flood  of  tears,  and  there  were  few  dry  eyes  in  the 
house."  "At  C.  Ledbetter's  the  hearers  were  much 
wrought  upon."  "At  Cole's  the  congregation  was  so 
large  we  had  to  go  under  the  shade  of  trees,  and  the 
friends  wept  greatly."  "At  Jersey  Meeting-house, 
Colonel  G.'s  wife  came  to  me,  and  began  to  cry  and  say, 
I  am  the  worst  creature  in  the  world;  my  heart  is  so 
hard  I  don't  know  what  to  do — and  begged  me  to  pray 
for  her." 

"At  Costner's  an  old  man  rose  up  and  spoke  in  a 
melting  manner  with  tears  streaming  from  his  eyes : 
I  am  almost  ready  to  depart  this  life,  and  am  not 
ready  to  die,  and  you  may  judge  how  I  feel." 

The  force  and  pathetic  power  of  ]\Ir.  Lee's  sermons 
may  be  seen  from  these  brief  extracts  from  his  Journal. 
Only  one  church  edifice  is  mentioned — The  Jersey 
Meeting-house,  located  somewhere  on  the  eastern  side 
of  the  Yadkin  River.  The  church  in  which  the  old 
pioneers  preached  most  was  the  temple  of  nature. 
Its  roof  was  the  blue  firmament,  its  floor  the  green 
earth,  swept  by  the  winds — its  lamp  the  radiant  sun — 


METHODISM    IX    ROWAN  399 

its  seats  the  rocks,  stumps,  and  logs.  The  voice  of  the 
preacher  mingled  with  the  free  songs  of  the  birds,  the 
splash  of  the  rippling  streams,  the  neighing  of  horses 
tied  in  the  bushes,  and  the  cries  of  penitent  souls. 

Jesse  Lee 

was  one  of  the  eminent  Methodist  pioneers,  "d.  man 
of  vigorous  though  unpolished  mind,  of  rare  popular 
eloquence  and  tireless  energy,  an  itinerant  evangelist 
from  the  British  Province  to  Florida."  He  labored 
as  presiding  elder  thirty-five  years,  was  chaplain  to 
Congress,  the  first  ]\Iethodist  American  Historian  of 
his  church,  begged  money  in  the  South  to  build  the 
first  Methodist  church  in  the  New  England  States, 
where  he  became  the  chief  founder  of  Methodism. 
He  was  the  peer  of  Asbury  and  Dr.  Coke  in  talent  and 
fruitfulness.  He  died  gloriously  shouting,  ''Glory, 
Glory,  Glory,"  in  1816;  and  was  buried  in  the  city  of 
Baltimore. 

The  prominence  of  IMethodism  in  Salisbury  and  the 
region  round  about  seems  to  be  indicated  from  the 
fact  that  Bishop  Asbury  preached  in  that  town,  1785, 
and  held  two  annual  Conferences  there — one  in  1786, 
and  the  other  in  1787 — the  first  Conferences  held  in 
the  western  part  of  the  State. 

Hope  Hull  followed  Mr.  Lee  on  the  Salisbury  cir- 
cuit, in  1785.  He  was  a  man  of  singular  power  in  the 
pulpit,  and  shares  the  honor  of  laying  the  foundation 
of  Methodism  in  this  region.  On  one  occasion,  he 
was  invited  by  way  of  fun-making  to  a  ball.  He  went 
— was  invited  to  dance.  He  took  the  floor,  remarking : 


400  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN    COUNTY 

"I  never  engage  in  any  kind  of  business  without  first 
asking  the  blessings  of  God,  so  let  us  pray."  Down 
he  went  upon  his  knees,  and  such  a  prayer  rolled  out 
from  his  eloquent  lips  as  shook  the  whole  party  with 
terror.  The  gay  dancers  were  thunderstruck.  Some 
fled  from  the  house,  others  began  to  pray  for  mercy. 
Hull  arose  from  his  knees,  gave  out  an  appointment 
to  preach  there  four  weeks  hence,  and  quietly  retired. 
When  the  appointed  time  came  around,  Hull  was  there, 
and  preached  a  most  effective  sermon  to  a  large  con- 
gregation. From  that  prayer  in  the  ballroom  a  wide 
extended  revival  began  and  spread  in  all  directions. 

Introduction  of  ^Methodism  into  Davie  County, 

WHICH    WAS  THEN   A   PaRT   OF   RoWAN 

''Beale's  Meeting-house  was  probably  the  first 
Methodist  church  built  in  this  section.  It  is  said  to  have 
been  built  during  the  Revolutionary  W^ar,  in  1780.  It 
was  located  on  the  'Old  Georgia  Road,'  near  Ander- 
son's Bridge  over  Hunter  Creek.  'Timber  Ridge,'  a 
schoolhouse  located  between  Smith  Grove  and  Olive 
Branch,  was  one  of  the  early  preaching  places  for  the 
Methodists  in  Davie  County.  'W'hitaker's  Church' 
also  claims  to  be  the  first.  So  the  old  church  four 
miles  east  of  ]\Iocksville,  known  as  the  'Dutch  Meet- 
ing-house', is  put  down  as  among  the  first  in  all  that 
country."  "Bethel  Church,"  first  located  about  a  mile 
east  of  Mocksville,  afterwards  moved  to  Mocksville, 
is  one  of  the  old  churches  built  in  the  county. 

It  is  very  likely  that  Andrew  Yeargan,  sent  on  the 
Yadkin  circuit,  1780,  was  the  first  regular  pastor  of  all 


METHODISM    IN    ROWAN  4OI 

that  section  known  as  the  "Forks  of  the  Yadkin,"  and 
laid  the  foundation  of  the  churches  already  mentioned. 
At  this  period  the  country  was  sparsely  settled,  the 
people  rude  and  almost  wild  as  the  native  deer.  At 
Beale's  Church,  tradition  says  the  preacher,  growing 
warm  during  his  sermon,  walked  down  into  the  con- 
gregation and  laid  his  hand  upon  the  head  of  an  old 
man,  saying,  "My  friend,  don't  you  want  to  go  to 
heaven?"  To  which  the  frightened  man  repHed : 
"Man,  for  God's  sake,  go  off  and  let  me  alone ;  I  don't 
live  about  here,  I  came  from  away  up  in  the  moun- 
tains." At  the  same  church,  in  1795,  a  quarterly  meet- 
ing was  held,  and  to  the  question:  "How  much  of 
the  preacher's  salary  has  been  paid?"  Charles  Led- 
better,  the  pastor,  presented  one  pair  of  socks  as  the 
full  amount  up  to  that  time. 

John  Cooper,  Enoch  Matson,  George  Kimble,  Henry 
Ogburn,  WilHam  Connor,  Lemuel  Green,  Barnabas 
McHenry,  followed  Yeargan,  and  did  a  good  work  in 
establishing  Methodism  in  this  section.  After  these 
came  such  men  as  Reuben  Ellis  and  John  Tunnel,  men 
of  gifts  and  piety.  About  this  time,  James  Parks  ap- 
pears as  a  preacher  and  teacher.  He  had  charge  of 
the  first  Methodist  school  founded  in  this  section,  and 
known  as  "Cokesbury  School."  It  was  located  on 
the  Yadkin  River  near  Phelps'  Ferry.  This  school 
after  a  short  period  was  discontinued,  and  the  house 
used  for  a  church.  Parks  moved  to  Jonesville  and 
established  a  school  there.  He  had  four  sons  who 
became  ministers,  one  of  whom,  Martin  P.  Parks,  be- 
came one  of  the  most  brilHant  pulpit  orators  of  his  day. 


402  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

In  1800,  Yadkin  circuit  numbered  four  hundred  and 
seventy-nine  members,  and  Salisbury  circuit  four  hun- 
dred and  ninety-four — nine  hundred  and  seventy-three 
in  the  two.  The  year  of  1799  is  famous  for  the  in- 
troduction and  prevalence  of  camp-meetings.  They 
began  in  the  West  under  the  united  labors  of  the  Mc- 
Gee  brothers — one  a  Methodist,  the  other  a  Presby- 
terian minister.  At  this  date,  these  mammoth  meet- 
ings were  union  meetings  of  the  Methodists  and 
Presbyterians.  Drs.  James  Hall  and  L.  L.  \\"ilson 
often  labored  in  them.  The  first  camp-meetings  held 
in  Davie  were  in  1805,  at  Olive  Branch  Church,  and  at 
Walnut  Grove  on  Dutchman's  Creek.  At  these 
meetings  great  revivals  broke  out  and  swept  over  the 
country  as  fire  in  dry  stubble.  The  result  was  the 
membership  of  the  church  grew  rapidly,  and  new 
church  edifices  sprang  up  all  over  the  Yadkin  A^alley. 
Schoolhouses  and  a  higher  grade  of  civihzation  fol- 
lowed in  the  wake  of  the  enlightening  gospel. 

In  1807,  Iredell  circuit,  embracing  Iredell  County, 
was  set  off  from  the  Yadkin  and  Salisbury  circuits, 
into  a  new  pastoral  charge.  As  the  gospel  spread, 
other  circuits  were  formed.  In  1831-33,  Stokes, 
Randolph,  Davidson,  and  Wilkes  circuits  were  formed. 
In  1834,  Salisbury  and  Lexington  constituted  a  pas- 
toral charge,  Thales  McDonald  being  pastor.  In  1836, 
Salisbury  was  made  a  station,  R.  O.  Burton  being  pas- 
tor. In  1836,  Mocksville  circuit  is  made.  In  1845, 
Jonesville  circuit  was  set  ofif.  In  1848,  Taylorsville 
was  set  off,  and  in  1850,  Forsyth.  The  formation  of 
these  pastoral  charges  indicates  the  growth  of  IMethod- 


METHODISM    IN    ROWAN  403 

ism  in  the  valley  of  the  Yadkin.  Just  one  hundred 
years  ago,  Methodism  entered  this  section  and  began 
its  work  of  evangelization,  with  the  capital  in  hand 
of  twenty-one  communicants  and  one  preacher.  Out 
of  this  mustard  seed  so  small  in  beginning  has  grown 
a  gospel  tree,  whose  fruitful  branches  spread  over  a 
large  scope  of  country. 

The  Results 

Salisbury  station,  Salisbury  circuit,  Mooresville 
circuit,  Mocksville  and  Davie  circuits,  Iredell,  Alexan- 
der, Wilkes,  Yadkin,  Surry,  Mount  Airy,  Davidson, 
Stokes,  Forsyth,  Winston,  Uwharie,  Statesville, 
Statesville  circuit,  are  the  pastoral  charges  which  have 
grown  out  of  the  original  circuits  of  Salisbury  and 
Yadkin,  with  thirty-seven  local  preachers,  8,200  mem- 
bers, 4,294  Sunday-school  scholars,  one  hundred 
four  churches,  seven  parsonages — the  churches  and 
parsonages  valued  at  $88,650.  These  charges  paid, 
in  1876,  for  religious  purposes,  $9,219.40. 

Methodist  Ministers  Born  and  Reared  in  Rowan 
County 


Rev.  Moses  Brock 

was  a  native  of  Rowan,  now  Davie  County;  joined  the 
Virginia  -  North  Carolina  Conference  in  1820.  For 
more  than  forty  years  he  bore  a  conspicuous  part  in 
building  up  Methodism  in  Virginia  and  North  Caro- 
lina.    When  the  occasion  called  out  his  full  strength, 


404  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

"he  was  eloquent  and  eminently  successful"  as  a 
preacher.  He  was  naturally  witty,  full  of  good  humor, 
eccentric,  and  original.  He  finished  his  useful  days 
in  Tennessee,  where  he  died  in  good  old  age. 

Rev.  Richard  Neely 
was  a  native  of  Rowan,  born  1802,  entered  the  Ten- 
nessee Conference  in  1821.  He  was  a  successful  mis- 
sionary among  the  Cherokee  Indians.  Died  1828. 
"He  was  a  man  of  good  mind,  pleasing  manners,  a 
pious  and  useful  minister." 

Rev.  John  Rich 
a  native  of  Davie,  born   181 5,   joined  conference  in 
1840.      "A     peerless     preacher     and     sweet  -  spirited 
Christian."     Died  in   Davidson   County   in   185 1. 

Rev.  S.  M.  Frost,  D.  D. 
born  in  Davie,  joined  conference  in  1846.     He  labored 
many  years  in  North  CaroHna  as  an  eminent  minister 
and  successful  teacher.     He  is  now  living  and  preach- 
ing in  Pennsylvania. 

Rev.  L.  L.  Hendren 
born  in  Davie  in  1822,  joined  conference  in  1845.     He 
is  now  an  influential  member  of  the  North  Carolina 
Conference,  and  one  of  the  most  prominent  presiding 
elders  in  the  connection. 

Rev.  H.  T.  Hudson,  D.  D. 
born  in  Davie  1823,  entered  conference  in  1851,  and 
is  now  pastor  of  the  Methodist  Church  at  Rockingham, 
N.  C. 


methodism  in  rowan  405 

Rev.  xA.bram  Weaver 
a  native  of  Rowan,  entered  conference  in  185 1,  located 
in   i860,  moved  to  ^Missouri,  and  joined  the  Baptist 
Church. 

Rev.  James  F.  Smoot 
born  in  Davie,  joined  conference  in  1856,  located  in 
1875,  is  now  a  teacher  in  Iredell. 

Rev.  S.  D.  Peeler 
bom  in  Rowan,  entered  conference  in   1854,  is  now 
pastor  of  Yadkin  circuit. 

Rev.  Calvin  Plyer 
born  in  Rowan,  entered  conference  in  1861,  located  in 
1873,  is  now  living  in  SaHsbury. 

Rev.  Wm.  C.  Wilson 
bom  in  Davie,  entered  conference  in  1863,  is  still  a 
minister  in  good  standing,  though  at  present  is  with- 
out any  pastoral  charge,  because  of  family  afflictions. 

Rev.  \\'m.  C.  Call 
born  in  Davie,  joined  conference  in   1867,  is  now  in 
charge  of  Snow  Hill  circuit. 

Rev.  Leonidas  W.  Crawford 
born  in  Rowan,  entered  conference  in  1868,  and  is  now 
stationed  in  Salisbury. 

Rev.  James  Wilson 
born  in  Davie,  entered  conference  in  1871,  is  now  in 
charge  of  Mount  Airy  Academy. 


406  HISTORY  OF   ROWAX    COUNTY 

After  this  brief  and  imperfect  sketch,  the  writer 
desires  to  append  a  few  remarks. 

First,  the  late  Peter  Doub,  D.  D.,  did  more  than  any 
other  minister  to  instill  the  peculiar  doctrines  of 
Methodism  into  the  minds  of  the  people  living  in 
Rowan  and  Davie  Counties.  He  preached  all  over 
this  country  for  many  years  to  vast  assemblies  at- 
tending the  camp-meetings  and  quarterly  meetings. 

Rev.  John  Tillett  did  more  than  any  other  man  in 
putting  down  intemperance  and  distilleries  in  Davie 
County.  Rev.  Baxter  Clegg  was  the  most  useful  and 
successful  teacher.  Out  of  his  academy,  located  at 
Mocksville,  came  many  useful  ministers,  lawyers,  phy- 
sicians, and  citizens.  ^Methodism,  both  in  Rowan  and 
Davie,  is  also  much  indebted  to  such  ministers  as: 
Revs.  J.  W.  Childs,  Abram  Penn,  James  Reid,  Joseph 
Goodman,  S.  D.  Bumpass,  Wilham  Barringer,  X.  F. 
Reid,  D.  D. — all  gone  to  their  heavenly  reward ;  and  a 
host  of  others  whose  names  we  have  not  space  to 
mention. 

The  ]\Iethodist  Church  of  Salisbury 

The  Rev.  J.  J.  Renn,  late  pastor  of  the  Sahsbury 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  writes  concerning  its 
history  as  follows : 

The  Rev.  Peter  Doub,  D.  D.,  was  presiding  elder  in 
this  district  during  the  years  1825-29.  During  these 
four  years  2,738  souls  were  converted  at  meetings 
which  he  held  in  person,  and  more  than  seven  thou- 
sand in  the  bounds  of  the  district.  About  that  time 
ministers  from  both  the  A'irginia  and  South  Carolina 


METHODISM    IN    ROWAN  407 

Conferences  preached  occasionally  at  the  courthouse  in 
Salisbury,  among  whom  were  Moorman,  Travis,  Tate, 
Stork,  Martin  (who  is  still  living  in  South  Carolina), 
and  others.  This,  with  the  deep  revival  influence  then 
working,  resulted  in  the  building  of  a  Methodist 
church  in  the  town  of  Salisbury. 

The  first  Methodist  church  in  Sahsbury  was  or- 
ganized in  November,  183 1,  with  thirteen  members, 
four  of  whom  are  still  living  (1880),  viz.:  Miss 
Adelaide  Clary  (now  Mrs.  Rowzee),  of  Salisbury; 
John  C.  Palmer,  now  of  Raleigh;  and  James  Glover 
and  wife,  now  of  Davidson  County.  One  name  of 
the  others  is  lost.  The  rest  were  Mrs.  John  C.  Palmer, 
Mrs.  Mary  Hardy,  Miss  Margaret  Shaver,  Mrs.  Slater, 
Mrs.  Samuel  Fraley,  Alexander  Biles,  Mrs.  Eunice 
Cowan,  and  Miss  Sarah  Bailey. 

This  church  was  in  the  Virginia  Conference.  Charles 
P.  Moorman  was  the  first  preacher  in  charge.  The 
first  Quarterly  Conference  was  appointed  to  be  held 
in  the  courthouse,  in  November,  1832,  but  the  Presby- 
terian brethren  kindly  ofifered  the  use  of  their  church, 
which  was  gratefully  accepted,  and  so  the  first  Meth- 
odist Conference  ever  convened  in  Salisbury  was  held 
in  the  Presbyterian  church,  presided  over  by  that 
singular  man,  "the  stern,  the  inflexible,  the  devoted, 
the  self-poised,  the  brave,  the  witty,  the  fearless 
Methodist  preacher,  Moses  Brock,"  who  was  at  that 
time  presiding  elder  of  the  district. 

At  that  Quarterly  Conference,  money  was  raised, 
and  a  comfortable  wooden  church  was  completed  early 
in  the  following  year  (1833).     With  the  exception  of 


408  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

one  year,  the  church  was  a  part  of  the  Sahsbury  circuit, 
until  1845.  I^  1834  it  was  made  a  station,  and  served 
by  Rev.  R.  O.  Burton.  It  then  went  back  to  the  cir- 
cuit. During  this  time  (between  1833  ^^^  1845),  it 
had  for  pastors  Revs.  Messrs.  T.  McDonald,  Tinnen, 
Yarrell,  and  others.  Rev.  Thomas  S.  J.  Campbell 
traveled  this  circuit  in  1835. 

In  1845,  it  became  a  permanent  station,  with  Rev. 
S.  Milton  Frost,  pastor.  The  presiding  elder  was  the 
Rev.  Joseph  Goodman.  This  year  there  was  an  ex- 
tensive revival,  and  about  seventy-five  were  added  to 
the  church.  There  was  another  revival  in  1848,  under 
Rev.  L.  Shell,  which  greatly  strengthened  the  church. 


EPISCOPACY  IN  ROWAN  COUNTY 

BY   JOHN    S.    HENDERSON,    ESQ. 

England  is  the  only  European  country  which  failed 
to  establish  her  church,  in  all  its  perfectness,  amongst 
her  colonies.  In  Spanish  America,  as  early  as  1649, 
Davila  estimates  the  staff  of  the  Spanish  church  to 
have  been — one  patriarch,  six  archbishops,  thirty-two 
bishops,  three  hundred  forty-six  prebends,  two  abbots, 
five  royal  chaplains,  eight  hundred  forty  convents,  be- 
sides a  vast  number  of  inferior  clergy.  Religion  was 
almost  entirely  neglected  in  the  early  settlement  of  the 
American  colonies  of  England.  Some  form  of  the 
Christian  religion  was  nominally  patronized,  and  estab- 
lished by  law  in  each  colony — but  very  little  attention 
was  paid  to  giving  to  the  people  full  and  genuine  reli- 
gious privileges.  The  non-Episcopalians  were  generally 
much  better  off  than  their  brethren  of  the  Church  of 
England.  The  latter  were  never  allowed  to  have  in 
any  colony  either  a  synod  or  a  bishop.  There  was  no 
power  of  obtaining  Episcopal  ordination  in  America. 
Candidates  for  the  ministry  were  required  to  cross  the 
Atlantic  to  receive  Holy  Orders.  This  was  both  costly 
and  full  of  peril.  One  in  five  of  all  who  set  out  re- 
turned no  more.  It  is  stated  that,  in  the  year  1724, 
about  twenty  young  men,  graduates  from  Yale  College, 
who  wished  to  obtain  Episcopal  ordination,  being  dis- 


4IO  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

couraged  at  the  trouble  and  charge  of  going  to  Eng- 
land, either  abandoned  the  ministry  altogether,  or 
accepted  non-Episcopal  ordination.  The  non-Episco- 
pal denominations  each  possessed  their  own  system 
in  perfection.  "It  is  hard,"  was  the  complaint  of 
the  ''Churchmen"  or  "Episcopalians"  at  the  time,  "that 
these  large  and  increasing  dispersions  of  the  true 
Protestant  English  Church  should  not  be  provided  with 
bishops,  when  our  enemies,  the  Roman  Catholics  of 
France  and  Spain,  find  their  account  in  it  to  provide 
them  for  theirs.  Even  Canada,  which  is  scarce  bigger 
than  some  of  our  provinces,  has  her  bishops,  not  to 
mention  the  ]\Ioravians,  who  also  have  theirs.  The 
poor  church  of  America  is  worse  off  than  any  of  her 
adversaries.  She  has  nobody  upon  the  spot  to  com- 
fort or  confirm  her  children — nobody  to  ordain  such 
as  are  willing  to  serve."  The  colonies  were  all  nom- 
inally under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Bishop  of  London, 
who  lived  more  than  three  thousand  miles  away,  and 
who  never  pretended  to  visit  America  at  all.  Xearly 
all  the  Episcopal  ministers  were  missionaries  in  the 
pay  of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel 
in  Foreign  Parts.  So  far  as  religious  advantages  were 
concerned  North  CaroHna  seems  to  have  been  some- 
what worse  off  than  any  other  colony,  but  there  was 
more  religious  liberty  and  toleration — and  there  never 
was  any  such  thing  known  here  as  religious  persecu- 
tion. All  Christian  denominations,  during  the 
seventeenth  and  the  greater  part  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 


EPISCOPACY  IX  ROWAN  4I I 

turies,  believed  that  some  fonn  of  Christianity  should 
be  established  by  law  as  the  church  of  the  State.  Such 
a  thing  as  the  perfect  religious  toleration  and  freedom 
we  now  enjoy  was  then  unknown  anywhere.  The 
Church  of  England,  until  the  period  of  the  Revolution 
of  1776,  was  the  religious  establishment  of  the  Prov- 
ince of  North  CaroHna,  and  up  to  that  date  there  was 
no  period  when  the  adherents  of  that  church  did  not 
constitute  at  least  one-half  of  the  population.  But  there 
were  very  few  clergy.  In  1764,  Governor  Dobbs 
reported  that  there  were  then  but  six  clergymen  in  the 
Province,  although  there  were  twenty-nine  parishes, 
and  each  parish  contained  a  whole  county.  Governor 
Tryon,  in  1767,  in  his  report  of  the  state  of  religion 
in  the  Province,  "observed  with  pleasure  that  religion 
was  making  a  very  regular  progress."  He  recom- 
mended "the  greatest  caution  in  the  choice  of  gentle- 
men sent  over  as  ministers,  the  inhabitants  of  this 
Province  being  strict  inquisitors  into  the  moral  charac- 
ter and  behavior  of  the  clergy ;  and  that  the  latter  will 
attract  but  little  esteem  and  do  but  little  good  if  their 
lives  are  not  truly  exemplary  and  agreeable  to  their 
profession."  In  1770,  the  number  of  the  clergy  had 
increased  to  eighteen,  while  the  population  of  the 
Province  probably  exceeded  two  hundred  thousand. 

I  have  been  unable  to  ascertain  whether  there  ever 
was  a  fully  organized  parish  in  Rowan  County  before 
the  Revolutionary  \\'ar.  Rowan  was  erected  into  a 
county  and  parish  in  1753,  and  the  name  of  the  latter 
was 


412  history  of  rowan  county 

St.  Luke's  Parish 

Before  the  year  1768,  it  is  probable  that  ministers 
of  the  Church  of  England  may  have  occasionally 
visited  the  county,  but  there  is  no  tradition  that  any 
minister  of  that  church  had  theretofore  been  located 
in  the  parish.  This  seems  to  be  plain  from  the  follow- 
ing extract  of  a  petition  from  sundry  inhabitants  of 
the  county  of  Rowan. 

*'To  the  Governor,  his  Majesty's  Honorable  Coun- 
cil, and  the  House  of  Burgesses  of  North  CaroHna: 

"The  petitioners  complain:  i.  That  his  Majesty's 
most  dutiful  and  loyal  subjects  in  this  county,  who 
adhere  to  the  liturgy  and  profess  the  doctrines  of  the 
Church  of  England  as  by  law  established,  have  not  the 
privileges  and  advantages  which  the  rubricks  and 
canons  of  the  church  allow  and  enjoin  on  all  her  mem- 
bers. That  the  Acts  of  Assembly  calculated  to  form- 
ing a  regular  vestry  in  all  the  counties  have  never  in 
this  county  produced  their  happy  fruits.  That  the 
county  of  Rowan,  above  all  counties  in  the  Province, 
lies  under  great  disadvantages,  as  her  inhabitants  are 
composed  almost  of  all  nations  of  Europe,  and  instead 
of  uniformity  in  doctrine  and  worship  they  have  a 
medley  of  most  of  the  religious  tenets  that  have  lately 
appeared  in  the  world ;  who  from  dread  of  submitting 
to  the  national  church,  should  a  lawful  vestry  be  estab- 
lished, elect  such  of  their  own  community  as  evade 
the  Acts  of  Assembly  and  refuse  the  oaths,  whence 
we  can  never  expect  the  regular  enlivening  beams  of 
the  Gospel."     Williamson,   in   his   History   of   North 


EPISCOPACY  IN  ROWAN  413 

Carolina,  from  which  I  have  copied  the  above  (p. 
258),  makes  the  following  comments  of  his  own: 
*'The  petitioners  go  on  to  pray  that  means  be  taken 
for  compelling  persons  chosen  vestrymen  to  take  the 
oaths  prescribed,  or  such  other  means  as  may  produce 
a  regular  lawful  vestry.  There  were  thirty-four  sub- 
scribers to  the  petition ;  six  of  them  made  their  marks, 
and  some  of  the  other  signatures  are  hardly  legible. 
When  thirty-four  such  persons  could  propose  that  six 
or  seven  hundred  should  be  taxed  for  their  accom- 
modation, they  certainly  had  need  of  gospel  that 
teaches  humility."  The  "humility"  which  these  peti- 
tioners had  need  of  was  universally  lacking  in  the 
Christianity  of  those  times.  But  it  is  doubtful  whether 
these  petitioners  proposed  to  do  what  Williamson 
charges  them  with — that  is  to  ''tax"  other  people  "for 
their  accommodation."  The  proposition  to  lay  a  tax 
does  not  seem  to  be  even  implied  from  any  of  the  lan- 
guage of  the  petition.  Because  they  wished  a  "lawful 
vestry"  is  no  proof  that  they  desired  the  vestry  to 
levy  and  collect  taxes  for  religious  purposes.  And 
because  some  of  the  petitioners  "made  their  marks"  is 
no  proof  that  they  were  utterly  ignorant,  uninfluential, 
and  disreputable.  A  great  many  very  respectable  and 
intelligent  people  in  those  times  were  unable  to  read  or 
write.  I  have  been  unable  to  ascertain  the  names  of 
the  signers  of  this  petition.  I  think  probable,  however, 
that  it  was  chiefly  signed  by  residents  of  the  town  of 
Salisbury,  and  that  it  therefore  represented  but  a  mere 
fraction  of  the  "church  people"  of  the  county.  The 
date  of  this  petition  is  not  given,  but  I  am  inclined  to 


414  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

think  it  must  have  been  some  time  between  the  years 
1764  and  1768.  Sahsbury,  according  to  the  current 
tradition,  was  originally  settled  by  a  few  English 
churchmen  from  the  cathedral  city  of  Salisbury  in 
England,  and  owes  its  name  to  that  circumstance. 

It  is  impossible  to  estimate  the  number  of  people  in 
the  county  who  were  adherents  of  the  Established 
Church — but  I  think  it  probable  that  they  amounted  to 
at  least  one-fourth  or  one-third  of  the  whole  popula- 
tion. A  great  many  of  the  old  families  were  un- 
doubtedly members  of  the  Church  of  England.  Nearly 
all  the  English  people  and  their  descendants  naturally 
belonged  to  that  Church.  So  did  the  Welsh.  ]\Iore 
than  half  of  the  Protestants  of  Ireland  have  always 
owed  allegiance  to  the  same  religious  faith.  I  think 
it  probable  that  the  following-named  persons,  living 
in  this  county  before  the  Revolution,  were  Church  of 
England  people :  John  Frohock,  William  Giles,  ^lat- 
thew  Locke,  Maxwell  Chambers,  James  oMacay,  John 
Dunn,  William  Temple  Coles,  Benjamin  Boothe  Boote, 
James  Carter,  Hugh  Forster,  William  Churton,  Rich- 
ard Viggers,  William  Steele,  Thomas  Frohock, 
Matthew  Troy,  James  Kerr,  Daniel  Little,  Alexander 
Ad^artin,  Francis  Locke,  James  Dobbin,  Alexander 
Dobbin,  Archibald  Craige,  David  Craige,  James 
Brandon,  John  Nesbit,  Anthony  Newnan,  James 
Smith,  and  Richmond  Pearson.  The  Howard  family 
were  also  here  then,  and  were  members  of  the  Eng- 
lish Church. 

\^ery  little  is  known  about  the  efforts  that  were  made 
to    organize    Episcopal    congregations    in    this    county 


EPISCOPACY  IN  ROWAN  415 

during  the  period  before  the  Revolution.  The  tradi- 
tion is  that  the  Rev.  Theodore  Drane  Draig  came  to 
Sahsbury  in  the  year  1768  or  1769,  and  almost  im- 
mediately succeeded  in  having  a  chapel  erected  in  the 
Jersey  Settlement,  about  nine  or  ten  miles  east  of 
Salisbury  —  somewhere  near  where  Dr.  William  B. 
Mears  now  resides.  Dr.  Draig  remained  here  about 
four  years,  but  failed  to  organize  the  parish  upon  a 
legal  and  permanent  foundation.  ''For  on  Easter 
Monday,  1770,  when  an  election,  according  to  the 
then  law  of  the  Province,  was  to  be  held  for  the  pur- 
pose of  electing  vestrymen,  the  Presbyterians  set  up 
candidates  of  their  own  and  elected  them,  not  with  any 
design  that  they  should  act  as  vestrymen  but  solely 
for  the  purpose  of  preventing  the  Episcopalians  from 
electing  such  as  would  have  done  so."  The  Rev. 
Robert  J.  Aliller  relates  this  anecdote  on  the  authority 
of  Dr.  Anthony  Xewnan,  John  Cowan,  Sr.,  and  others 
of  the  old  people  of  Salisbury.  Air.  Miller  makes  the 
following  comments  of  his  own:  "This  (election  and 
its  consequences)  caused  much  bitter  animosity  to 
spring  up  between  the  parties,  and  so,  much  discour- 
aged the  reverend  gentleman.  Perhaps  the  approach  of 
the  Revolutionar}^  War  had  its  influence  also,  but  be 
that  as  it  may,  after  a  four  years'  fruitless  effort  to 
organize  an  Episcopal  congregation  in  this  section,  he 
left  it  as  he  found  it,  without  any."  Dr.  Draig  was  a 
great  friend  of  ^Mr.  John  Dunn,  who  is  said  to  have 
been  instrumental  in  persuading  him  to  come  to  this 
parish.  The  usual  place  for  holding  the  sen-ices  in 
Salisbury  was  the  large  house  of  Mr.  Dunn,  situated 


41 6  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

on  what  is  now  the  northeast  corner  of  Innes  and 
Church  Streets — on  the  same  lot  where  Mr.  PhilHp  P. 
Meroney  resides.  Mr.  Dunn  is  said  to  have  been  a 
good  Churchman.  His  house  was  decorated  with  ever- 
greens as  regularly  as  Christmas  Day  would  come. 

Governor  Tryon,  being  in  Salisbury  on  the  twen- 
tieth day  of  Alay,  1767,  went  into  the  office  of  John 
Frohock,  Clerk  of  the  County  Court  and  Register, 
*'and  examined  all  the  registry  books,  and  fully 
approved  of  the  method  they  were  kept  in.  Colonels 
Palmer  and  Waddell  were  in  company  with  the  Gov- 
ernor. Colonel  Palmer  found  lying  in  one  of  the  books 
a  copy  of  a  call  to  the  Rev.  (Richard)  Sankey,  read  it 
to  the  Governor,  and  at  His  Excellency's  request,  took 
it  with  him  to  take  a  copy  thereof."  (See  Register's 
book  6,  p.  397.)  The  clerk's  office  was  then  kept  in  the 
house  of  ]\Ir.  A\'illiam  Steele.  I  think  that  this  call  may 
have  been  made  by  a  vestry  of  St.  Luke's  Parish. 
Elections  for  vestrymen  were  held  every  three  years, 
and  I  suppose  the  polls  were  usually  opened  at  the 
proper  times.  It  is  probable,  therefore,  that  elections 
were  held  on  Easter  ]\Ionday,  in  the  years  1758,  1761, 
1764,  1767,  and  1770.  Mr.  Sankey  seems  to  have 
been  in  Rowan  as  early  as  the  year  1758 — for  on  the 
fifth  day  of  September,  1758,  he  married  John  Braley 
to  Sarah  Carruth,  of  Rowan  County  (Register's  book 
7,  p.  302).  He  is  said  to  have  been  a  Virginian  and  a 
Presbyterian.  But  I  think  it  probable  that  he  had  re- 
ceived Episcopal  ordination.  I  can  find  out  nothing 
satisfactory  about  him.  He  must  have  returned  to 
Virginia  before  the  date  of  Governor  Tryon's  visit. 


EPISCOPACY  IN  ROWAN  417 

In  those  days  the  feeling  was  well-nigh  unanimous 
that  the  Christian  religion  must  be  established  and 
maintained  as  the  law  of  the  State.  Nothing  proves 
this  more  plainly  than  the  ''instructions"  given  to  the 
delegates  from  Mecklenburg  County  in  1775. 

"13.  You  are  instructed  to  assent  and  consent  to  the 
estabHshment  of  the  Christian  religion  as  contained  in 
the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  and 
more  briefly  comprised  in  the  Thirty-Nine  Articles  of 
the  Church  of  England,  excluding  the  thirty-seventh 
article,  together  with  all  the  articles  excepted  and  not 
to  be  imposed  on  Dissenters  by  the  act  of  toleration,, 
and  clearly  held  forth  in  the  Confession  of  Faith  com- 
piled by  the  Assembly  of  Divines  at  Westminster,  to 
be  the  religion  of  the  State,  to  the  utter  exclusion  for- 
ever of  all  and  every  other  (falsely  so-called)  religion,, 
whether  Pagan  or  Papal,  and  that  the  full,  free,  and" 
peaceable  enjoyment  thereof  be  secured  to  all  and 
€very  consistent  member  of  the  State  as  their  inalien- 
able right  as  free  men,  without  the  imposition  of  rites 
and  ceremonies,  whether  claiming  civil  or  ecclesiastic 
power  for  their  source,  and  that  a  confession  and  pro- 
fession of  the  religion  so  established  shall  be  necessary 
in  qualifying  any  person  for  public  trust  in  the  State. 
If  this  should  not  be  confirmed,  protest  and  remon- 
strate. 

''14.  You  are  instructed  to  oppose  to  the  utmost 
any  particular  church  or  set  of  clergymen  being  in- 
vested with  power  to  decree  rites  and  ceremonies,  and 
to  decide  in  controversies  of  faith,  to  be  submitted  to. 


41 8  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

under  the  influence  of  penal  laws.  You  are  also  to  op- 
pose the  establishment  of  any  mode  of  worship  to  be 
supported  to  the  opposition  of  the  rights  of  conscience, 
together  with  the  destruction  of  private  property.  You 
are  moreover  to  oppose  the  establishing  an  ecclesiastic 
supremacy  in  the  sovereign  authority  of  the  State. 
You  are  to  oppose  the  toleration  of  the  Popish  idola- 
trous worship.  If  this  should  not  be  confirmed,  pro- 
test and  remonstrate." 

It  is  somewhat  remarkable  that  the  North  Carolina 
patriots  of  1776  never  protested  against  any  evils  out 
of  the  existing  religious  establishment.  This  is  con- 
clusive proof  that  they  did  not  consider  an  established 
church  an  evil  at  all ;  and  that  the  ecclesiastical  laws 
then  on  the  statute  books  must  have  been  very  mildly 
and  rarely  enforced. 

All  persons  holding  office  in  the  Province  of  North 
Carolina  before  the  Revolution  were  required,  in  ad- 
dition to  the  usual  oath  of  office,  to  take  certain  oaths 
appointed  by  Act  of  Parliament  for  the  qualification 
of  public  officers,  and  to  repeat  and  subscribe  ''the 
test."  The  latter  oath  made  the  renunciation  of  the 
doctrine  of  transsubstantiation  a  necessary  qualifica- 
tion for  office.  This  declaration  seems  to  have  been 
repeated  and  subscribed  every  time  the  Court  met.  I 
find  the  following  entry  on  one  of  the  old  Superior 
Court  dockets : 
^'North  Carolina,  Salisbury,  to  wit : 

"1,  A.  B.,  do  declare  that  I  do  believe  in  my  con- 
science that  there  is  not  any  transsubtantiation  in  the 
sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  or  in  the  elements  of 


EPISCOPACY  IX  ROWAN  419 

bread  and  wine  at  or  after  the  consecration  thereof, 
by  any  person  whatsoever,  etc. 

"(Signed)  :     James  Hasell,  C.  J. 

Edmund  Fanning,  A.  J. 
WiUiam  Hooper 
freland  burn 

his 
]\Iichael  x  burn 
mark 
''September  Superior  Court,  1767/' 

I  never  knew  before  that  Edmund  Fanning,  the 
Hillsboro  Tory,  was  an  Associate  Judge  of  the  Supe- 
rior Court.  \\^heeler  does  not  mention  the  fact  in  his 
''Sketches."  Fanning  presided  over  the  Court  at 
SaHsbury  frequently,  as  the  records  abundantly  prove. 

I  have  not  been  able  to  locate  the  exact  spot  where 
Dr.  Draig's  chapel  was,  in  the  Jersey  Settlement. 
Miss  Chrissie  Beard  says  "the  congregation  drank  out 
of  Mrs.  Kelly's  spring."  She  thinks  it  was  very  near 
the  spot  where  Dr.  Meares  now  lives.  I  have  heard 
from  several  sources  that  there  is  a  deed  on  record 
conveying  a  lot  of  land  to  certain  trustees  for  the  use 
of  the  Episcopal  Church — supposed  to  be  the  very 
ground  where  the  Jersey  chapel  was  built — but  I 
have  not  yet  been  able  to  find  the  deed  referred  to, 
not  knowing  the  names  either  of  the  grantor  or  of  the 
grantees. 

Among  the  names  of  the  old  ante-Revolutionary 
Churchmen  was  Alexander  Martin,  who  lived  in 
SaHsbury  until  Guilford  County  was  erected.  He  had 
a  brother  who  was  a  clergyman  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 


420  HISTORY*  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

land,  and  lived  in  Virginia.  The  former  was  quite  a 
distinguished  man.  He  was  a  prominent  lawyer  by 
profession,  and  was  frequently  commissioned  by  the 
crown  to  hold  the  District  Court  at  Salisbury.  He 
presided  over  the  Court  which  was  held  on  the  first 
day  of  June,  1775,  during  the  sitting  of  which  Captain 
Jack  passed  through  on  his  way  to  the  Continental 
Congress  at  Philadelphia,  with  the  Mecklenburg  "Re- 
solves" of  the  thirty-first  of  Alay.  He  was  a  colonel 
in  the  Continental  Army,  and  fought  under  LaFay- 
ette  at  the  battle  of  Brandywine.  He  was  elected  Gov- 
ernor of  the  State  in  1782,  and  again  in  1789.  He  was 
also  Governor  in  1781,  during  the  enforced  absence  of 
Governor  Burke,  who  had  been  captured  by  the  Tory 
Colonel  Fannen,  of  Chatham.  He  never  married.  The 
last  office  he  held  was  that  of  United  States  Senator, 
to  which  he  was  elected  in  1799.     He  died  in  1807. 

The  Revolutionary  War  dispersed  nearly  all  the 
Episcopal  congregations  in  the  State.  The  majority 
of  the  clergy,  being  Englishmen  by  birth  and  sympathy, 
and  being  deprived  of  all  means  of  support,  returned 
to  the  land  of  their  nativity.  "Still  there  were  some 
four  or  five  ministers  who  remained  steady  at  their 
posts,  ever  ready  to  administer  the  ordinances  of  the 
Church  and  consolation  to  all  who  applied  for  them  at 
their  hands.  These  were  the  Rev.  ^lessrs.  Pettigrew, 
Cuppels,  Blount,  and  Micklejohn;  perhaps  also,  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Taylor,  in  Halifax.  Seed  was  yet  left,  and 
a  few  praying  Simeons  and  Annas  still  remained." 
(See  letter  of  Rev.  Mr.  Miller,  pubHshed  by  Rev.  Dr. 
Hawks,  dated  April  15,  1830.) 


EPISCOPACY  IN  ROWAN  42 1 

I  think  it  doubtful  whether  any  of  these  clergymen 
ever  extended  their  ministrations  further  west  than 
the  county  of  Orange,  where  Mr.  Micklejohn  resided. 
For  many  years  after  the  war  of  the  Revolution  the 
children  and  friends  of  Episcopacy,  few  in  numbers 
and  feeble  in  influence,  lived  in  a  state  of  religious 
destitution  and  in  a  condition  of  despondency  border- 
ing on  despair.  It  was  not  until  the  year  1790  that 
an  eflfort  was  made  to  revive  their  drooping  spirits. 
A  convention  met  in  Tarboro,  organized  a  "standing 
committee,"  and  elected  delegates  to  the  General  Con- 
vention. Shortly  thereafter,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hailing,  of 
Newbem,  obtained  the  necessary  credentials,  and  was 
ordained  by  Bishop  ^Madison,  of  Virginia.  A  second 
convention  was  held  in  Tarboro  in  the  year  1793;  and 
a  third  was  held  in  the  same  town  on  the  last  Wednes- 
day in  May,  1794;  when  and  where  the  Rev.  Charles 
Pettigrew  was  elected  Bishop  of  the  Diocese  of  North 
CaroHna.  For  some  reason  satisfactory  to  himself  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Pettigrew  never  made  application  for  con- 
secration. ''It  is  a  melancholy  reflection,"  says  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Miller,  "for  me  to  be  obliged  to  say  that  no 
beneficial  effects  resulted  from  all  these  efforts  to  re- 
vive the  spirit  and  cause  of  Episcopacy  in  the  State  of 
North  Carolina.  Yet  such  was  the  fact.  They  were 
by  no  means  commensurate  with  the  wishes  and  hopes 
of  its  real  friends ;  for  the  prospect  rather  became 
more  dense  in  gloom.  Under  the  pressure  of  many 
complicated  difficulties,  our  wonder  will  cease  that 
the  efforts  of  the  few  remaining  friends  of  the  Episco- 
pal Church  in  this  State  had  so  little  effect,  and  that 


422  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN   COUNTY 

a  declination  instead  of  a  revival  took  place.  The 
clergy  were  not  only  discouraged  and  dispirited,  but 
were  obliged  in  most  cases  to  turn  their  attention  to 
other  objects  in  order  to  procure  the  necessaries  of 
life.  Twenty-three  years  the  stream  of  time  rolled 
along,  and  no  star  appeared  in  any  quarter  of  our 
horizon  to  cheer  the  gloom  that  had  enveloped  our 
hopes  and  our  spirits.  From  1794  to  181 7,  all  was 
dark  and  dreary,  yet  the  great  Redeemer  had  not  for- 
got his  gracious  promise.  It  was  then  that  the  daystar 
from  on  high  visited  us  in  mercy,  when  two  heaven- 
sent heralds  of  the  everlasting  Gospel  came  to  \\'il- 
mington  and  Fayetteville,  and  there  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  the  restoration  of  the  Episcopal  Church  and 
cause  in  North  Carolina."  The  "heralds"  referred  to 
were  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Adam  Empire  and  Bethel  Judd. 
I  cannot  better  describe  the  g-rowth  and  progress  of 
Episcopacy  in  Rowan  County  than  by  giving  brief 
biographical  sketches  of  the  ministers  who  have  ofiB- 
ciated  within  its  bounds.  I  will  first  begin  with  the 
name  of 

Robert  Johnstone  ^Tiller 

He  was  a  Scotchman  by  birth,  and  was  born  and 
brought  up,  until  his  fifteenth  year,  in  the  Episcopal 
Church  of  Scotland,  under  the  ministry  of  the  venera- 
ble Bishop  Rail,  who  was  upwards  of  eighty  years 
old  when  young  Miller  left  Scotland  and  came  to 
America.  At  what  time  he  came  to  this  country  I 
do  not  know ;  probably  a  short  time  before  the  Revo- 
lutionary W^ar.  He  resided  in  \'irginia  for  some  years, 


EPISCOPACY  IN  ROWAN  423 

and  about  the  year  1784  connected  himself  with  the 
Methodists,  who,  Mr.  Miller  says,  at  that  time  pro- 
fessed to  be  members  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  In  the 
same  year  he  ''rode  with  Dr.  Coke  to  a  conference  in 
Franklin  County,  this  State."  Dr.  Coke  was  an  or- 
dained priest  of  the  Church  of  England  who  had  pre- 
viously been  ordained  a  bishop  by  Wesley.  Mr.  Miller 
says  that,  although  dissatisfied  with  the  Methodist 
system — he  himself  being  thoroughly  persuaded  of  the 
truth  of  the  Apostolic  Succession  —  he  nevertheless 
continued  with  them  through  the  year  1785,  in  the 
Tar  River  circuit,  where  in  some  measure  he  lost  his 
health ;  for  the  recovery  of  which  he  came  up  into  the 
western  part  of  the  State.  He  says  that  during  his 
continuance  with  the  Methodists  they  always  treated 
him  with  respect,  and  when  he  withdrew  himself  from 
any  connection  with  them,  in  1786,  "they  publicly  de- 
clared that  they  had  no  charge  against  him  whatever, 
and  that  it  was  his  own  voluntary  act,  in  consequence 
of  his  disapprobation  of  their  system  and  rules." 
About  this  time  the  people  of  the  congregation  of 
Whitehaven,  comprehending  Whitehaven  and  the 
lower  and  upper  Smyrna,  in  Lincoln  County,  applied 
to  him  to  take  charge  of  them  as  a  congregation,  in  the 
capacity  of  a  lay-reader  merely.  The  people  of  his 
congregation  were  chiefly  immigrants  from  Pennsyl- 
vania and  Virginia.  They  were  a  mixed  people — Ger- 
man, English,  Irish,  and  some  Scots  originally;  but  at 
that  time  very  destitute  of  any  regular  religious  in- 
struction. The  most  of  them  and  their  fathers  were 
and  had  been  members  of  the  Episcopal  Church.     Mr. 


424  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN   COUNTY 

Miller  agreed  to  become  their  public  reader,  to  cate- 
chize their  children,  and  to  bury  their  dead.  Both  he 
and  the  congregation  mutually  resolved  and  agreed  to 
adhere  to  the  Episcopal  Church,  to  which  they  were 
alike  bound  by  the  strong  ties  of  hereditary  preposses- 
sion, and  of  love  and  affection  strengthened  by  con- 
viction. A  congregation  was  organized,  church  ward- 
ens and  a  vestry  were  chosen,  and  an  act  of  incorpora- 
tion obtained  from  the  General  Assembly.  Prayer 
books  were  scarce.  The  congregation  had  a  few 
English  ones,  and  he  procured  two  of  the  first  edition 
from  Philadelphia.  He  also  had  printed  in  Salisbury 
a  catechism,  to  which  he  added  an  explanation  of  the 
two  covenants,  and  the  feasts  of  the  Christian  Church, 
together  with  some  religious  terms  not  generally  un- 
derstood. The  most  of  the  congregation  were  under 
the  necessity  of  receiving  the  sacraments  from  the 
hands  of  a  Lutheran  minister  who  lived  in  the  vicinity. 
With  him,  Mr.  Miller  formed  an  intimate  acquaint- 
ance, and  with  his  ministerial  brethren  also  who  lived 
in  the  adjacent  counties  of  Rowan,  Guilford,  and  Ran- 
dolph. Mr.  Miller  says  they  pressed  him  with  the 
plea  of  necessity  to  accept  ordination  from  their  hands, 
mentioning  that  the  Rev.  Dr.  Pilmour  had  done  so 
during  the  time  of  the  Revolutionary  War.  A  number 
of  Presbyterian  clergy  with  whom  he  was  intimate 
recommended  the  same  course ;  and  his  congregation 
earnestly  requested  him  to  accept  such  ordination,  as- 
suring him  that  they  would  be  perfectly  satisfied  with 
his  ministrations.  He  consented  to  receive  ordina- 
tion from  them,  not  as  a  Lutheran  minister,  but  as  an 


EPISCOrACY  IN  ROWAN  425 

Episcopalian.  In  the  letters  of  orders  which  they 
gave  him,  they  bound  him  to  be  subject  to  the  dis- 
cipline and  rules  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 
in  the  United  States.  In  administering  the  ordinances 
and  offices  of  the  Prayer  book,  Mr.  Miller  says  he  paid 
as  strict  attention  to  the  rubrics  as  circumstances  and 
situation  would  admit. 

In  the  year  1803,  at  the  request  of  the  congregation, 
and  of  the  Lutheran  ministry  and  their  congregations, 
and  after  several  consultations  held  for  the  purpose,  a 
convention  met  in  Salisbury,  and  formed  a  union  and 
constitution,  which  adopted  the  leading  features  of 
the  General  Constitution  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  in  the  United  States.  Under  this  constitution, 
which  was  drawn  up  by  Mr.  Miller  as  aforesaid,  he 
continued  in  union  with  the  Lutherans  until  the  year 
1818.  He  says,  "our  success  in  introducing  order  and 
regularity  throughout  our  charges,  and  in  extending 
their  boundaries,  was  far  beyond  any  expectation  en- 
tertained by  us  at  the  commencement."  In  the  year 
1794,  yiv.  Miller  was  invited  by  the  Episcopal  clergy 
of  the  State  to  attend  the  convention  which  assembled 
at  Tarboro  in  ]\Iay  of  that  year,  and  was  also  furn- 
ished with  a  certificate  that  he  had  been  elected  a 
member  of  the  standing  committee  of  the  Diocese.  Mr. 
Miller  attended  the  convention,  and  took  with  him  a 
member  of  the  laity  of  Whitehaven  Parish,  who  rep- 
resented the  parish  in  the  convention.  The  organiza- 
tion of  the  congregation  of  St.  IMichael's  Church, 
Iredell  County;  Christ  Church,  Rowan  County,  and 
St.  Luke's  Church,  Salisbury,  arose  in  some  measure 


426  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

at  least  from  Mr.  Miller's  labors  amongst  them  for 
more  than  thirty  years,  before  either  parish  was  re- 
cieved  into  regular  union  with  the  Diocese,  Mr.  Miller 
says,  Christ's  Church  was  organized  as  a  congregation 
during  his  "connection  with  the  Lutheran  Synod ;  and 
St.  Luke's,  Salisbury,  by  our  lamented  and  venerated 
Father  in  God,  Bishop  Ravenscroft,  Monday,  Septem- 
ber 8,  1823.  Miss  Chrissie  Beard — now  in  her  eighty- 
second  year — one  of  the  most  highly  respected  ladies 
of  Salisbury,  says  Mr.  Miller  also  preached  at  a  log 
church,  about  five  miles  above  town,  on  the  old  Wilkes- 
boro  Road.  This  church  was  built  for  Mr.  Miller  by 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  Kelly,  John  Howard,  and  other  neigh- 
bors ;  and  Episcopal  services  were  frequently  held 
there.  The  same  lady  also  says  that  she  remembers 
perfectly  well  that  her  uncle,  Lewis  Beard,  when  she 
was  a  child,  went  to  Charleston,  and  brought  back 
with  him  a  number  of  catechisms,  which  were  eagerly 
sought  for  and  highly  prized  by  all  the  Episcopal 
families,  who  studied  them  attentively  themselves,  and 
made  their  children  learn  them.  The  introduction  of 
these  catechisms  must  have  been  some  time  about  the 
year  1806.  In  181 8  the  long  declining  and  almost 
obliterated  cause  of  Episcopacy  began  to  revive  in 
this  State.  "In  that  year,"  says  the  Rev.  ]\Ir.  Miller, 
'^the  beloved  and  Rev.  Adam  Empie,  who  was  then 
the  rector  of  St.  James'  Church,  Wilmington,  and  one 
of  the  honored  and  principal  instruments  under  God 
of  the  blessed  and  I  may  say  glorious  work,  entered 
into  a  correspondence  with  me  touching  my  standing 
in  the  Church,  and  the  state  of  religion  in  this  section 


EPISCOPACY  IX  ROWAN  427 

of  the  country.  To  him  I  stated  my  situation,  and 
that  of  the  people  then  under  my  care,  and  their  and 
my  connection  with  the  Lutherans.  This  union  was 
from  first  to  last  our  own  individual  act.  And  at  the 
time  when  I  was  ordained  by  them,  I  had  expressly 
reserved  my  right  and  liberty,  with  those  under  my 
care,  to  return  and  unite  in  full  union  and  without  any 
impediment,  with  the  Episcopal  Church,  whenever  it 
should  please  God  to  revive  her  in  this  State."  The 
result  was  that  he  attended  the  fifth  annual  Convention 
of  the  Diocese,  held  in  Raleigh,  April  28,  1821.  It  was 
the  third  convention  over  which  Bishop  Richard 
Channing  Moore,  of  Virginia,  had  presided.  Mr.  Mil- 
ler, at  this  convention,  was  ordained  by  Bishop  Moore, 
a  deacon  and  priest — the  first  in  the  morning  and  the 
second  in  the  evening  of  the  same  day,  to  wit :  May 
2,  1821.  It  is  reported  that  when  Bishop  Moore  read 
Mr.  Miller's  certificate  of  ordination,  he  said  to  him, 
"you  belong  to  its."  This  anecdote  is  told  as  if  ^Ir. 
Miller  for  the  first  time  then  conceived  it  his  duty  to 
obtain  Episcopal  ordination.  But  it  is  plain  from 
what  has  been  said  that  he  had  never  faltered  in  his 
purpose  to  obtain  Holy  Orders  from  the  Church  of  his 
fathers,  whenever  a  favorable  opportunity  presented 
itself.  He  had  never  ceased  to  consider  himself  a 
member  of  that  Church.  I  have  not  access  to  the 
earliest  journals  of  the  Diocese,  but  I  have  no  doubt 
Mr.  Miller  became  a  candidate  for  Orders  shortly 
after  the  correspondence  with  the  Rev.  ^Ir.  Empie 
began. 


428  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Miller,  even  after  he  had  resolved  to 
obtain  Episcopal  ordination,  still  continued  to  adminis- 
ter the  sacraments,  and  to  preach  to  the  congregations 
under  his  care. 

There  is  an  old  record  of  Christ  Church,  in  the 
handwriting  of  Mr.  Miller,  from  which  several  of 
the  first  leaves  are  missing.  From  this  it  appears  that 
Mr.  Miller  was  in  the  habit  of  administering  the  holy 
rite  of  confirmation  to  all  who  would  receive  it  at  his 
hands.  He  administered  confirmation  for  the  first 
time  in  Christ  Church,  Rowan  County,  some  time 
previous  to  the  year  1820.  The  record  concerning  it 
is  missing.  The  date  of  his  second  confirmation  is 
the  third  Sunday  in  April,  sixteenth  day,  1820,  when 
he  confirmed  twenty-four  persons. 

The  following  record  is  preserved  of  the  early  com- 
munions in  the  same  church. 

Fourth  communion,  date  not  given,  fifty-one  com- 
municants; fifth,  April  16,  1820,  forty-four  communi- 
cants; 1820,  fifty-eight;  18 — ,  number  not  given. 

The  next  communion  was  after  Mr.  Miller  had  re- 
ceived Episcopal  ordination,  November  4,  1821 — 
thirty-six  communicants,  with  this  note — "day  very 
unfavorable,  a  number  that  had  given  in  their  names 
unable  to  attend.  Collected  $2.96>4.  (Signed) 
Robert  J.   Miller,   Rector." 

Fourth  Sunday  in  May,  1822,  entered  as  the  seventh 
communion — though  it  must  have  been  the  ninth — 
twenty-four  communicants;  eighth  (?),  July  3,  1823, 
forety-eight  communicants;  tenth (?),  Sunday,  August 
21,  1825,  fifty-one  communicants.     At  the  convention 


EPISCOPACY  IX  ROWAN  429 

of  182 1,  Christ  Church  was  admitted  into  union  with 
the  Diocese.  Allmand  Hall  attended  as  the  first  dele- 
gate. This  gentleman  was  the  ancestor  of  quite  a 
number  of  distinguished  Episcopal  families  in  North 
Carolina.  One  of  his  daughters  married  ^Ir.  Cham- 
bers McConnaughey  of  this  county.  ^Irs.  ]^IcCon- 
naughey  is  still  living,  and  has  always  been  a  devoted 
Christian  and  churchwoman.  One  of  her  daughters 
married  Dr.  John  L.  Henderson,  whose  family  reside 
in  Concord^  and  are  members  of  the  new  Episcopal 
congregation  there.  Another  daughter  married  Dr. 
Thomas  Hill,  recently  a  vestryman  of  St.  Luke's 
Parish,  but  who  has  removed  to  Goldsboro.  A 
daughter  of  ^Ir.  Allmand  Hall  married  Dr.  WilHam 
McKoy,  of  Clinton,  Sampson  County,  the  father  of  the 
Hon.  Allman  A.  !McKoy — one  of  the  most  capable  and 
acceptable  Judges  of  the  Superior  Court  now  on  the 
bench. 

The  Rev.  ^Ir.  ^liller  removed  to  Burke  County,  and 
took  up  his  residence  at  St.  Mary's  Grove,  a  short  time 
before  the  year  1821.  During  that  year  St.  Andrew's 
Church  was  organized  as  a  parish,  and  Mr.  Miller 
became  its  rector.  Notwithstanding  his  removal  to 
Burke  County  fnow  Caldwell),  ^Ir.  ^Miller  did  not 
entirely  lose  sight  of  his  flock  in  Iredell,  Rowan,  ,md 
Lincoln  Counties,  but  for  several  years  continued  to 
make  periodical  visitations  from  time  to  time  of  the 
congregations  and  families  committed  to  his  care.  He 
is  remembered  with  great  affection  and  esteem  by  some 
of  the  older  people — as  coming  down  on  such  oc- 
casions,  preaching   at   the   little    churches    and    other 


430  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

places,  catechizing  the  children  and  baptizing  a  great 
many,  distributing  the  bread  of  Hfe  to  the  faithful, 
visiting  the  Episcopal  families  as  he  had  opportunity, 
and  like  some  other  old  gentlemen  of  that  day  wearing 
the  old-fashioned  knee-breeches. 

St.  Peter's  Church,  Lexington  (then  of  Rowan), 
was  admitted  into  union  with  the  Diocese  at  the  (Ral- 
eigh) convention  of  1822 — delegate,  Alexander  Cald- 
cleugh.  The  delegate  from  Christ  Church  was  Ben- 
ton A.  Reeves. 

The  eighth  annual  convention  of  the  Diocese  assem- 
bled in  Salisbury,  in  the  old  Lutheran  Church,  in  the 
spring  of  1823 — seven  clergymen  being  present.  The 
Revs.  Gottlieb  Shober  and  Daniel  Scherer,  and  Col. 
Henry  Ratz,  delegates  from  the  Lutheran  Synod,  were 
in  attendance  as  honorary  members  of  the  convention, 
in  pursuance  of  articles  of  agreement  between  the  con- 
vention and  the  Synod.  The  delegates  from  Christ 
Church  were  John  Cowan,  Benjamin  Lightell,  and 
Samuel  Fleming;  from  St.  Peter's  Church,  Lexington, 
James  R.  Dodge,  Dr.  WilHam  R.  Holt,  and  Dr.  \\{\- 
liam  Dobson. 

The  Rev.  John  Stark  Ravenscroft,  of  Virginia,  was 
elected  the  first  Bishop  of  North  Carolina.  He  was 
consecrated  to  the  Episcopate  Alay  23,  1823.  On 
Saturday  evening,  September  6,  1823,  Bishop  Ravens- 
croft preached  on  Confirmation  in  the  old  courthouse 
in  Salisbury  (services  being  held  there  by  request). 
On  the  next  day  he  preached,  both  morning  and 
evening,  in  the  Lutheran  Church;  administered  the 
Holy  Communion  to   about   forty  persons — one-third 


EPISCOPACY  IN  ROWAN  43 1 

of  whom  were  colored;  and  confirmed  thirteen  per- 
sons, among  whom  were  Miss  Chrissie  Beard,  Mrs. 
Eleanor  Faust,  Mrs.  Susanna  Beard,  Mrs.  Elizabeth 
Kelly,  Mrs.  Mary  Beard,  Misses  Camilla  and  Loretta 
Tores,  Mrs.  ]\Iary  Locke,  and  Misses  Margaret  Burns, 
Mary  Hampton,  and  Mary  Todd. 

At  this,  his  first  visitation,  Bishop  Ravenscroft  or- 
ganized the  parish,  on  ^^londay  evening,  at  the  house  of 
Mrs.  Susanna  Beard,  on  Innes  Street,  between  Main 
and  Church  Streets,  just  opposite  the  present  residence 
of  Mr.  R.  J.  Holmes.  The  old  house  is  now  occupied 
by  Mrs.  Rutledge  and  family. 

On  September  14,  1823,  the  Bishop  visited  Christ 
Church,  confirmed  fifty  persons,  and  administered  the 
Holy  Communion  to  sixty-three  persons.  Doubtless 
a  good  many  of  those  who  had  been  previously  con- 
firmed by  Mr.  Miller  were  again  confirmed  by  the 
Bishop. 

St.  Luke's  Parish  was  admitted  into  union  with  the 
Diocese  at  the  (Williamsboro)  convention  of  1824, 
and  Dr.  Lueco  Mitchell  attended  as  a  delegate.  Dr. 
Stephen  L.  Ferrand,  the  father  of  Mrs.  Mary  S.  Hen- 
derson, and  of  Mrs.  Ann  Haughton,  deceased,  at- 
tended the  (Washington)  Convention,  April  21,  1825, 
as  a  delegate  from  the  same  parish.  Bishop  Ravens- 
croft reported  that  he  had  visited  Christ  Church  on  the 
thirteenth  and  fourteenth  of  October,  1824.  and 
''though  the  weather  was  bad,  preached  to  good  con- 
gregations." On  the  second  day  he  was  assisted  by 
Mr.  Miller,  administering  the  Holy  Communion  to 
thirty-eight   persons.      Returning  to    Salisbury,   after 


432  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

service  by  Mr.  Miller,  on  Saturday  the  sixteenth,  he 
preached  on  the  seventeenth,  being  Sunday,  confirmed 
eight  persons,  and  administered  the  communion  to  six- 
teen persons,  assisted  by  Mr.  Miller.  "In  the  after- 
noon divine  service  was  again  performed.  The  con- 
gregations respectable,  both  forenoon  and  afternoon.'* 
On  the  eighteenth,  the  Bishop  left  Salisbury,  in  com- 
pany with  Mr.  Miller,  and  on  the  nineteenth,  at  the 
house  of  Mr.  Mills,  in  Iredell,  he  confirmed  five  per- 
sons. Mr.  Mills'  family  formed  the  Episcopal  part 
of  the  former  joint  Episcopal  and  Lutheran  congrega- 
tion of  St.  ^lichael's,  which  the  Bishop  had  visited  in 
the  year  1823.  Mr.  Mills'  family  afterwards  consti- 
tuted the  main  strength  of  the  Episcopal  parish  of 
St.  James.  The  Bishop  reached  Mr.  Miller's  ''hospita- 
ble mansion"  on  the  twenty-first.  On  the  twenty- 
fourth,  in  St.  Andrew's  Church,  Burke  County,  eight- 
een persons  were  confirmed,  "a  numerous  congrega- 
tion" being  present.  On  the  twenty-sixth,  he  preached 
at  St.  Peter's  Church,  Lincoln  County,  to  a  small  con- 
gregation, and  on  the  twenty-seventh,  in  the  same 
church,  confirmed  seven  persons.  ]\Ir.  Miller  assisted 
in  the  serv^ice.  On  the  twenty-eighth  and  twenty-ninth, 
he  officiated  at  Smyrna,  without  any  appearance  of 
interest  on  the  part  of  the  few  who  attended." 

On  the  thirtieth  and  thirty-first  he  ofBciated  at 
Whitehaven,  assisted  by  Mr.  IMiller,  and  confirmed 
nine  persons,  and  "administered  the  Holy  Communion 
to  a  small  number  of  serious  people."  On  the  fourth 
of   November  he  performed   divine   service   again   at 


EPISCOPACY  IN  ROWAN  433 

Whitehaven,  preached  on  the  subject  of  Confirma- 
tion, and  administered  that  rite  to  seven  more  persons. 
The  Bishop,  in  his  address  to  the  convention  of 
1825,  said  "that  he  v^^as  happy  to  be  able  to  state  that 
the  principles  of  the  church  and  of  pure  religion  were 
gaining  ground  among  her  members,  among  whom 
there  were  not  a  few  whose  zeal  was  coupled  with 
knowledge  and  whose  faith  was  manifested  by  their 
works,  and  in  general  more  consideration  was  given  to 
the  subject.  In  the  western  section  of  the  Diocese  the 
prospect  was  very  discouraging,  though  not  without 
hope.  With  the  exception  of  the  congregation  at 
Wadesboro,  under  the  care  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Wright, 
which  was  second  to  none  in  any  Diocese  for  sound- 
ness in  the  faith  and  exemplary  holiness;  and  the 
congregation  of  Christ's  Church,  Rowan,  which  is 
numerous  and  regular,  and  in  the  main  sound  as 
Episcopalians,  though  not  without  exceptions;  and  a 
few  recently  organized  in  Salisbury,  there  is  nothing 
at  present  to  be  depended  upon.  In  the  immediate 
neighborhood  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Miller,  they  have  com- 
menced retracing  their  steps,  and  will  in  time,  I  trust, 
recover  from  the  paralyzing  effect  of  the  attempt  to 
amalgamate  with  the  Lutheran  body,  and  the  unjusti- 
fiable conduct  of  some  of  the  missionaries  heretofore 
employed,  in  abandoning  the  Liturgy  altogether  in 
their  public  services.  In  Lincoln,  the  effects  are  most 
visible,  and  likely  to  be  most  injurious ;  yet  had  we  the 
means  of  giving  and  continuing  to  them  the  services  of 
a  faithful  clergyman,  my  hope  is  good  for  the  revival 
of  the  church  even  there.     Some  verv  influential  men 


434  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

are  engaged  in  the  cause,  and  there  is  sufficient  ability, 
could  it  be  roused  into  action,  to  give  it  success." 

November  13,  1825,  the  Bishop  visited  Christ 
Church,  Rowan,  where  he  preached  and  administered 
the  Holy  Communion  to  fifty-six  white  and  three  col- 
ored communicants. 

Mr.  Miller  made  a  report  to  the  convention  at  Hills- 
boro.  May  18,  1826,  covering  a  period  of  two  years : 

Baptisms — St.  Andrews,  Burke  County,  21  ;  In 
Iredell  and  Rowan,  85 ;  In  Lincoln,  35 ;  On  Johns  and 
Catawba  Rivers,  11.    Total,  152. 

Communicants — St.  Andrew's,  15;  Christ  Church, 
50;  Whitehaven,  17;  Smyrna,  7;  Mr.  ^Mills',  17. 
Total,  106. 

Marriages,  5;  burials,  12;  paid  to  Bishop's  salary, 
$20.00;  candidates  for  confirmation  at  St.  An- 
drew's,  II. 

Mr.  Miller  attended  the  convention  at  Salisbury  in 
the  year  1829.  His  report  shows  that  he  was  confining 
his  labors  almost  exclusively  to  the  little  parish  of  St. 
Andrews.  He  made  another  report  to  the  convention 
at  Washington,  in  1834,  in  which  he  stated  that,  al- 
though enjoying  in  other  respects  a  good  state  of 
health  for  one  of  his  years,  he  was  very  often  pre- 
vented from  attendance  on  the  appointments  that  were 
made  for  him  by  sudden  and  severe  attacks  of  a  pain- 
ful complaint  with  which  he  was  afflicted.  He  died 
early  in  the  summer  of  1834,  having  lived  a  long  life 
full  of  years  and  usefulness  in  the  service  of  his  ]Mas- 
ter.  He  was  a  truly  pious,  sincere  Christian — and  not- 
withstanding his  apparent  inconsistencies  of   conduct 


EPISCOPACY  IN  ROWAN  435 

was  devotedly  attached  all  his  life  to  the  Church  of  his 
baptism;  and  he  was  instrumental  in  a  larger  degree 
than  any  other  one  person  in  keeping  alive  a  knowl- 
edge of  Episcopacy  in  the  western  part  of  the  State. 
Wherever  he  went,  his  ministrations  were  always  wel- 
come. Mr.  Miller's  descendants  are  numerous,  one  of 
whom — Miss  Amanda  Haigler — is  the  wife  of  Mr. 
Lewis  V.  Brown,  late  of  Salisbury,  but  now  of  Denton, 
Tex. 

Bishop  Ives,  in  his  address  to  the  convention  of 
1835,  thus  alludes  to  the  death  of  this  venerable  and 
saintly  servant  of  God: 

"I  notice  with  unfeigned  sorrow,  the  death,  during 
the  past  year,  of  the  Rev.  Robert  Johnstone  Miller,  of 
Burke  County,  a  clergyman  of  whom  we  may  em- 
phatically say,  for  him  to  live  was  Christ  and  to  die  is 
gain.  Brethren  of  the  clergy,  let  us  follow  his  ex- 
ample of  humility,  of  faith  and  patience,  that  ours  may 
be  his  crown  of  eternal  glory,  through  him  who  has 
washed  us  from  our  sins  in  his  own  blood." 

It  was  through  the  instrumentality  of  Mr.  Miller 
that  fraternal  relations  were  established  between  the 
Lutheran  Synod  and  the  Episcopal  Convention,  by  a 
mutual  interchange  of  delegates  from  one  to  the  other 
for  several  years  previous  to  the  consecration  of 
Bishop  Ravenscroft.  Before  the  Revolution,  the 
Swedes  and  German  Lutherans  in  the  American 
colonies,  almost  without  exception,  are  understood  to 
have  conformed  to  the  Episcopal  Church.  In  a  report 
made  to  the  Bishop  of  London,  in  1761,  the  number  of 
^'church  people"  in  Pennsylvania  is  put  down  at  sixty- 


436  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

five  thousand,  of  whom  forty  thousand  were  said  to 
be  Swedish  and  German  Lutherans  "who  reckon  their 
service,  etc.,  the  same  as  that  of  the  Church  of  En- 
gland" (Wiberforce,  American  Church,  133). 

The  Rev.  Robert  Davis,  whose  history  is  unknown 
to  the  writer,  officiated  in  this  section  of  the  State,  co- 
operating with  ]\Ir.  ^liller,  in  the  years  1821-23. 
I  find  his  name  included  in  the  list  of  the  clergy 
for  North  Carolina,  in  Sword's  Almanac  for  the 
year  1822,  the  whole  number  of  clerg>'  being  put  down 
at  nine,  among  whom  were  the  Revs.  Richard  S. 
Mason  (Xewbern),  and  William  Hooper,  professor  in 
the  University  of  North  CaroHna. 

About  the  year  1794,  a  number  of  Episcopal  fami- 
lies removed  from  Maryland  to  the  western  part  of 
Rowan,  among  them  two  families  of  Barbers,  and 
other  families  by  the  names  of  Gardner,  Chunn,  Har- 
rison, Alexander,  Lightell,  Mills,  Swan,  Reeves,  Bur- 
roughs, etc.  The  Rev.  Richard  \\\  Barber,  of  Wilkes- 
boro,  is  descended  from  Elias  Barber,  the  patriarch  of 
one  branch  of  the  Barber  family,  and  the  Rev.  Samuel 
S.  Barber,  of  Hyde  County,  is  descended  from  Jona- 
than Barber,  the  patriarch  of  the  other  branch. 

Mr.  Chunn  was  the  grandfather  of  the  Chunns  of 
this  county,  Mrs.  Susan  W.  ]Murphy,  Mrs.  Betty  ]Mur- 
phy,  and  many  others.  The  late  Archibald  Hender- 
son was  often  heard  to  remark  that  the  Rev.  Thomas 
E.  Davis — afterwards  Bishop  of  South  Carolina — said 
to  him,  that  Mr.  \Mlliam  Chunn — the  father  of  ]\Irs. 
Susan  W.  ]\Iurphy — was  "God's  gentleman,"  meaning 
thereby  that  he  was  endowed  by  nature  with  all  the 


EPISCOPACY  IN  ROWAN  437 

graces  and  genuine  characteristics  of  a  true,  cultured, 
Christian  gentleman — a  very  high  compliment  indeed, 
coming  from  such  a  man  as  Bishop  Davis.  Mr.  Sam- 
uel R.  Harrison,  of  Salisbury,  and  many  others  are 
descendants  of  those  who  first  came  out  with  the 
Maryland  colony,  and  the  Turners,  of  Rowan  and  Ire- 
dell, are  also  descended  from  one  of  this  colony.  Mr. 
Charles  Nathaniel  Alills,  with  his  family,  removed 
soon  after  his  arrival  to  Iredell  County — where  his 
descendants,  including  a  portion  in  the  Northwestern 
States  and  a  few  in  Salisbury,  now  number  several 
hundred.  The  Rev.  Hatch  Dent,  an  Episcopal  clergy- 
man, and  an  uncle  of  the  Barbers,  came  out  with  this 
colony.  He  purchased  six  hundred  and  sixty-one 
acres  of  land  in  Alount  UUa  township,  where  Dent's 
Mountain  is  situated — being  that  part  of  the  Boyden 
and  Henderson  plantation  called  "the  Dent  Tract." 
The  reverend  gentleman  remained  but  a  few  years. 
Parson  Dent  and  Jonathan  Barber  had  married  two 
Misses  Swan  —  aunt  and  niece  —  and  the  parson,  on 
returning  to  ^laryland,  left  his  nephew  in  charge  of 
this  tract  of  land  just  mentioned,  giving  him  the  use  of 
it  rent-free  for  ten  years. 

Jack  Turner,  whose  wife  was  a  Dent,  was  the  father 
of  Wilson  and  Joseph  Turner  and  others.  Wilson 
Turner  (brother  of  Jack),  was  the  father  of  Wilfred 
Turner  and  others.  Samuel  Turner  came  into  the 
county  ten  or  twenty  years  later  than  the  first  colonists. 

Had  Parson  Dent  made  Rowan  his  permanent  resi- 
dence, and  if  he  had  been  ordinarily  zealous  and  suc- 
cessful in  his  ministrations,  it  is  believed  by  many  that 


438  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN   COUNTY 

the  Episcopal  Church  would  have  been  at  his  time 
numerically  as  strong  as  any  religious  denomination 
in  the  county.  An  opportunity  presented  itself  at  that 
early  day  which  can  never  occur  again.  The  Rev. 
Thomas  Wright,  of  Wadesboro,  visited  St.  Luke's, 
Salisbury,  and  Christ  Church,  Rowan  County,  thrice 
each  during  the  year  ending  April  21,  1825.  He  re- 
ported at  that  time  six  communicants  at  St.  Luke's, 
and  fifty-eight  at  Christ  Church.  On  the  twenty- 
fourth  of  November  of  the  same  year,  ]\Ir.  Wright 
accepted  a  call  to  the  rectorship  of  these  two  parishes. 
His  salary  was  fixed  at  five  hundred  dollars — one-half 
of  which  was  assured  by  the  vestry  of  Christ  Church. 
The  contract  on  the  part  of  Christ  Church  with  St. 
Luke's  was  signed  by  W^illiam  Cowan,  John  Swan,  and 
David  Cowan.  On  the  twenty-seventh,  Bishop  Ra- 
venscroft  preached  in  the  courthouse  in  Salisbury, 
which  the  Bishop  said  "was  more  convenient  to  the 
inhabitants  generally  than  the  church,  situated  at  the 
extreme  end  of  town" — in  the  old  Lutheran  cemetery. 
At  this  time  there  seems  to  have  been  some  misunder- 
standing between  the  Lutherans  and  Episcopalians, 
about  the  claim  of  the  latter  to  use  the  old  church 
building.  The  Bishop  thus  alludes  to  it  in  his  Journal : 
"An  interference  in  appointments  took  place,  which 
gave  me  the  opportunity  to  press  upon  the  members  of 
the  church  the  necessity  of  providing  a  place  of  wor- 
ship for  themselves.  And  though  the  present  building 
has  been  erected  almost  entirely  at  the  expense  of 
Episcopalians,  yet  as  the  ground  was  originally  given 
for  a  free  church,  and  each  denomination  has  an  equal 


EPISCOPACY  IN  ROWAN  439 

right  to  the  use  of  it,  I  recommended  to  surrender  it 
altogether,  and  rent  some  convenient  place  for  present 
use  until  they  could  provide  the  means  of  erecting  a 
suitable  building  for  themselves."  In  his  first  report 
to  the  convention  at  Hillsboro,  May  i8,  1826,  Mr. 
Wright  returns  the  number  of  communicants  at  Christ 
Church  at  sixty-four,  and  at  St.  Luke's,  eleven.  In 
January,  1826,  Mr.  Wright  took  charge  of  these  con- 
gregations, reserving  five  Sundays  in  the  year  for  his 
former  flock  (in  Wadesboro).  He  reports:  "our 
prospects  in  the  parish  of  St.  Luke's,  though  not  flat- 
tering, to  be  as  good  as  ought  to  be  expected  under  the 
existing  circumstances.  The  brethren  of  Christ  Church 
in  general  are  of  one  mind  and  spirit;  and  walking 
themselves  in  the  old  paths  and  the  good  way,  will  in- 
duce others  also  to  follow  in  their  steps.  They  have 
recently  raised  the  frame  of  a  new  building,  sixty  by 
forty  feet." 

Samuel  Fleming  attended  the  convention  at  Hillsboro 
as  a  delegate  from  Christ  Church.  In  his  report  to 
the  Newbern  Convention,  May  17,  1827,  Mr.  Wright 
said  that  ''there  was  reason  to  hope  that  the  friends 
and  members  of  the  church  in  his  charge  have  not  only 
increased  in  number,  but  are  advancing  in  zeal  and 
knowledge,   growing   in   grace   and   holiness." 

The  new  building  of  Christ  Church  was  consecrated 
by  Bishop  Ravenscroft,  July  17,  1827,  in  the  presence 
of  a  large  concourse  of  people,  the  customary  deed 
having  been  executed  on  the  day  previous.  The 
Bishop  was  assisted  in  the  services  by  the  Revs. 
Thomas  \\>ight,  R.  S.  :\Iiller,  and  William  ]\I.  Green. 


/)/|0  HISTORY  OF   ROWAX    COUNTY 

The  latter  is  now  the  venerable  and  beloved  Bishop  of 
Mississippi.  This  church  was  situated  about  twelve 
miles  west  of  Salisbury,  near  the  Statesville  Road — 
about  one  mile  below  the  point  where  Third  Creek 
station  on  the  Western  North  Carolina  Railroad  is 
now  located.  In  his  report  of  this  consecration,  to  the 
Fayetteville  Convention,  1828,  the  Bishop  speaks  of 
the  congregation  of  Christ  Church  as  a  "large  body  of 
worshipers,  the  second  in  number  of  communicants  in 
the  Diocese."  On  the  fifteenth  day  of  September, 
1827,  Moses  A.  Locke,  Charles  Fisher,  and  John 
Beard,  Jr.,  as  executors  of  Lewis  Beard,  executed  and 
delivered  to  John  McClelland,  James  Martin,  Stephen 
L.  Ferrand,  Thomas  Chambers,  Edward  Yarboro, 
and  Edward  Cress,  vestry  of  the  Episcopal  congrega- 
tion of  St.  Luke's  Church,  a  deed  in  fee  for  Lot  No. 
II — one  hundred  and  forty-four  square  poles — in  the 
town  of  SaHsbury — now  the  east  corner  of  Church  and 
Council  Streets.  The  following  clause  is  inserted  in 
the  deed : 

"And  in  case  at  any  time  hereafter  the  congregation 
of  St.  Luke's  shall  dissolve,  then  the  right  to  said  lot 
shall  vest  in  the  Episcopal  Bishop  of  the  Diocese  of 
North  Carolina,  and  his  perpetual  successors,  in  trust 
for  the  said  congregation  of  St.  Luke's  when  it  shall 
revive."  (Registered  in  Book  No.  30,  p.  8.)  The  lot 
is  said  to  have  been  presented  by  Major  John  Beard, 
Jr.,  a  very  devoted  churchman  who  removed  to 
Florida,  where  he  resided  for  many  years,  having  died 
only  a  few  years  ago. 


EPISCOPACY  IX  ROWAN  44I 

The  present  church  building  was  erected  in  the  year 
1828,  the  Rev.  Francis  L.  Hawks  being  the  architect. 
Mr.  John  Berry  was  the  contractor  and  builder.  Mrs. 
Mary  N.  Steele,  widow  of  Gen.  John  Steele,  gave  the 
ground  to  make  the  bricks,  and  burned  them.  Before 
the  church  was  consecrated,  the  Masonic  Fraternity 
assembled  there  and  organized  "Fulton  Lodge" — the 
Rev.  \y.  M.  Green  (now  Bishop)  meeting  with  them. 
The  building  was  consecrated  by  Bishop  Ravenscroft, 
in  July  or  August,  1878,  assisted  by  the  Revs.  ^lessrs. 
William  'M.  Green,  Thomas  Wright,  Philip  B.  Wiley, 
and  John  H.  Xorment.  The  services  "formed  an  ob- 
ject of  much  interest  to  some,  and  of  curiosity  to 
more."  About  this  time,  ^Ir.  Weight  ceased  to  be  the 
rector  of  Christ  Church,  owing  to  the  disinclination  of 
the  latter  to  continue  their  union  with  the  church  at 
Salisbury  upon  its  original  footing — and  "that  large 
and  important  and  able  congregation" — in  the  lan- 
guage of  Bishop  Ravenscroft — remained  for  some 
time  without  a  regular  pastor. 

The  thirteenth  annual  convention  met  in  St.  Luke's 
Church,  Salisbury,  on  Saturday,  May  23,  1829. 
The  lay  delegates  from  Christ  Church  were  Charles 
Mills,  Benjamin  Harrison,  David  Cowan,  and  Dr.  W. 
H.  Trent.  From  St.  Luke's  Parish  were  James  Mar- 
tin, Romulus  M.  Saunders,  Edward  Yarboro,  and 
John  Beard,  Jr.  Thomas  F.  Davis,  Jr.,  afterwards 
rector  of  the  parish  and  Bishop  of  South  CaroHna, 
was  present  as  a  lay  delegate  from  St.  James'  Church, 
Wilmington.  E.  J.  Hale  was  present  as  a  lay  delegate 
from    St.    John's    Church,    Fayetteville.      During   the 


442  HISTORY   OF   ROWAX   COUNTY 

morning  sen-ice  on  the  first  day  of  the  session,  the 
sacrament  of  baptism  was  administered  to  four  adults ; 
and  at  night  to  four  infants.  ^Ir.  \\>ight  reported 
fifteen  communicants  at  St.  Luke's  and  seventy  at 
Christ  Church,  and  said  "Fears  are  entertained  by 
some  of  the  vestry  that  they  cannot  maintain  a  clerg}-- 
man,  even  with  the  aid  of  Christ  Church.  Perhaps 
an  unmarried  man,  who  could  combine  secular 
with  clerical  duties,  or  who  would  divide  his 
time  between  the  two  churches  of  Rowan  and  the  con- 
gregation at  A\'adesboro,  might  be  supported.  The 
few  members  of  the  Female  Episcopal  Society  have 
wrought  diligently,  and  have  been  able  to  defray  the 
expense  of  painting  the  church  and  procuring  cushions, 
etc.,  for  the  pulpit,  reading  desk,  and  altar.  By  the 
exertions  chiefly  of  one  lady,  eighty-five  dollars  have 
been  presented  for  the  purpose  of  purchasing  a  bell." 
"The  members  in  general  of  Christ  Church  are  more 
confirmed  in  their  attachment  to  the  Church,  and  a  few 
of  them  have  obviously  advanced  in  knowledge,  zeal, 
and  holiness.'*  On  Sunday  morning,  the  Bishop 
preached  from  Romans  lo  :  14.  The  sermon  was 
published  by  request  of  the  convention,  and 
was  entitled,  "Revelation  the  Foundation  of  Faith." 
The  Rev.  Philip  B.  AMley  was  ordained  priest, 
and  the  communion  was  administered  to  fifty- 
one  persons.  Evening  servnce  was  performed  by  the 
Rev.  G.  \\\  Freeman.  The  Rev.  yiv.  A\'right  was 
elected  one  of  the  delegates  to  the  General  Convention. 
During  the  temporary  retirement  of  the  Bishop,  Romu- 
lus M.  Saunders,  a  lay  delegate,  was  called  to  the  chair. 


EPISCOPACY  IN  ROWAN  443 

The  Bishop's  salary  was  fixed  at  one  thousand  dollars 
per  annum,  commencing  from  June  ii,  1829. 

From  Mr.  Wright's  report  to  the  convention  of  1832, 
I  extract  the  following:  ''A  few  years  ago  the  congre- 
gations in  Rowan  had  a  name  to  live,  and  were  dead ; 
but  by  the  grace  and  mercy  of  God  they  have  revived, 
arisen  from  the  dust,  and  been  in  some  measure  puri- 
fied, and  now  our  principles  are  better  understood 
than  at  any  preceding  period.  Our  services  are  at- 
tended by  those  who  love  them ;  and  the  blessed  Gos- 
pel is,  in  general,  honored  by  the  holy  walk  of  such  as 
profess  to  beheve  it."  Bishop  Ives,  in  his  address, 
speaks  of  "the  faithful  and  self-denying  labors  of  Mr. 
Wright  in  St.  Luke's  Parish  having  been  very 
inadequately  repaid."  He  reported  the  congre- 
gation of  Christ  Church,  "as  to  its  spiritual  state, 
seeming  to  be  prosperous."  On  Wednesday,  the 
thirtieth  of  May,  1823,  Bishop  Ives  visited  St.  Luke's 
Church,  officiating  on  Thursday,  Friday,  and  Satur- 
day ensuing,  preaching  to  unusually  serious  and  atten- 
tive congregations,  and  confirming  ninety-two  persons. 
"It  was  a  circumstance  of  unusual  gratification  to  my- 
self," says  the  Bishop,  "as  it  must  have  been  to  the 
worthy  and  devoted  servant  of  God  who  was  about 
leaving  this  scene  of  his  self-denying  labors,  to  ob- 
serve among  those  who  on  this  occasion  publicly  pro- 
fessed their  faith  a  number  of  the  most  deservedly 
influential  gentlemen  of  the  place,  and  among  all  a 
spirit  of  increasing  solemnity.  Among  the  gentlemen 
then    confirmed    were    Judge    James    Martin,    John 


444  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

Beard,     William     Howard,     and    Major    John     Mc- 
Clellan. 

The  Rev.  ]\Ir.  Wright  removed  from  Salisbury,  with 
his  family,  to  Tennessee,  towards  the  close  of  the  year 
1832.  He  was  for  a  short  time  a  student  of  the  law. 
He  was  born  in  W^ilmington ;  ordained  deacon  about 
the  year  1821,  and  ordained  priest  in  1823  or  1824. 
He  married  a  sister  of  Bishop  Green,  and  raised  a 
large  family  of  children.  He  lived  in  the  old  I\lac- 
Namara  house,  on  Main  Street  (near  the  Western 
North  Carolina  Railroad),  next  door  to  the  ]\Iisses 
Beard.  He  was  a  most  devoted  herald  of  the  cross 
— full  of  years  and  piety,  and  abounding  in  mission- 
ary labors.  During  the  time  he  was  at  Salisbury  he 
officiated  constantly  in  the  parishes  of  Rowan  County, 
and  frequently  and  regularly  visited  Wadesboro,  fifty- 
six  miles  away.  He  occasionally  visited  the  ]Mills 
Settlement  in  Iredell  County,  Mocksville,  and  Wilkes 
County.  He  accompanied  Bishop  Ravenscroft  for 
days  at  a  time  whenever  the  latter  was  on  his  visita- 
tions. He  is  said  to  have  built  up  the  first  Episcopal 
congregation  of  Memphis.  He  is  remembered  with 
great  admiration  and  affection  by  his  old  parishioners 
in  this  State. 

The  Rev.  John  ^Morgan 

Mr.  Wright's  successor,  must  have  arrived  in  SaHs- 
bury  the  latter  part  of  November,  1832.  He  reached 
Oxford,  on  his  way,  on  Saturday,  the  twenty-fourth, 
and  there  met  Bishop  Ives,  and  assisted  the  latter  in 
his  Sunday  services.     Mr.  \\>ight  and  his  family  did 


EPISCOPACY  IN  ROWAN  445 

not  leave  Salisbury  until  after  his  arrival.  Mr.  Mor- 
gan was  an  Englishman  by  birth  and  education,  and 
was  never  married.  Bishop  Ives  visited  St.  Luke's 
Church,  Friday,  June  14,  1833,  and  confirmed  seven 
persons.  "He  was  highly  gratified  to  mark  so  many 
indications  of  spiritual  improvement."  I  extract  the 
following  from  Mr.  Morgan's  report  to  the  conven- 
tion of  1834:  Baptisms,  twenty-six;  communicants, 
twenty;  Christ  Church  baptisms,  twenty;  communi- 
cants, seventy-six ;  Charlotte  baptisms,  seven ;  com- 
municants, three;  Iredell  County  baptisms,  ten.  His 
field  included  Charlotte  and  Lincolnton,  which  he 
visited  every  fifth  week.  **We  have  ordered  an  organ ; 
the  ladies  deserving  the  credit  of  it.  The  congregation 
of  Christ  Church  is  decidedly  improving  in  regard. to 
the  number  of  those  who  regularly  attend,  and  I  trust 
in  knowledge,  grace,  and  zeal."  The  same  organ  has 
continued  in  use  at  St.  Luke's  to  this  very  day.  It  was 
built  by  Henry  Erben,  of  New  York.  The  original 
price  was  seven  hundred  dollars,  but  he  reduced  the 
charge  to  five  hundred  dollars.  Mr.  Morgan  removed 
to  Maryland  some  time  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1835. 
He  lived  to  a  good  old  age,  dying  on  Staten  Island  in 
1877.  He  was  fond  of  accumulating  rare  and  beauti- 
fully bound  books,  and  he  took  great  pride  in  showing 
his  books  to  those  who  called  to  see  him.  He  was  a 
very  charitable  man — spending  his  money,  however, 
without  discrimination.  He  paid  a  visit  to  England 
shortly  after  leaving  here,  in  company  with  the  late 
Hon.  Burton  Craige.  I  heard  the  latter  say  that  Mr. 
Morgan  was  in  the  habit  of  dropping  a  gold  guinea 


446  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

($5)  into  the  box  for  the  poor  every  time  he  entered 
a  church,  while  other  people  were  dropping  in  pennies 
or  shillings.  Mr.  Craige  said  he  repeatedly  remon- 
strated with  him  about  such  reckless  extravagance, 
telling  him  that,  at  the  rate  he  was  gomg  on,  the  legacy 
which  he  had  lately  inherited  would  soon  be  exhausted. 
But  his  remonstrances  had  very  little  effect.  He  is 
said  to  have  given  his  own  overcoat  to  a  man  who  was 
shivering  in  the  cold,  and  rode  home  himself  without 
one.  Before  leaving  the  State,  Air.  Morgan,  in  De- 
cember, 1834,  gave  up  the  rectorship  of  St.  Luke's 
Church,  in  order  to  confine  himself  more  closely  to  his 
other  fields  of  labor.  About  that  time  he  reports  the 
number  of  communicants  at  Salisbury  at  twenty-three ; 
Christ  Church  and  Iredell,  one  hundred  and  ten; 
Burke  County,  seventeen ;  Charlotte,  two.  On  Friday, 
September  24,  1834,  the  Bishop  confirmed  at  Christ 
Church  thirty  persons. 

Mr.  Morgan  labored  with  great  zeal  and  success, 
and  was  greatly  beloved  and  respected  by  his  parish- 
ioners— in  fact,  by  all  who  knew  him. 

He  was  succeeded  in  the  rectorship  of  St.  Luke's  by 
the 

Rev.  William  W.  Spear 

in  January,  1835.  Mr.  Spear  had  been  ordained 
deacon,  July  25,  1834,  at  Hillsboro.  The  ordination 
sermon  was  preached  by  the  Rev.  George  W.  Freeman. 
Mr.  Spear  was  an  educated  gentleman.  He  went  to 
school  in  Salisbury  to  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Otis  Freeman, 
a  Presbyterian  minister,  and  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian 


EPISCOPACY  IX  ROWAN  447 

congregation  in  Salisbury.  The  latter  was  a  brother 
of  the  Rev.  George  \\\  Freeman,  who  was  then  rector 
of  Christ  Church,  Raleigh,  and  afterwards  the  Bishop 
of  Arkansas.  The  Rev.  G.  W.  Freeman  ministered 
to  Bishop  Ravenscroft  during  his  last  hours.  He  was 
born  in  Massachusetts  in  the  year  1789  (?). 

The  Rev.  Jonathan  O.  Freeman  was  a  celebrated 
instructor.  Numbers  of  the  old  people  in  Salisbury 
of  all  denominations  were  baptized  and  instructed  by 
him,  including  many  EpiscopaHans.  His  son,  E.  B. 
Freeman,  of  Raleigh,  and  Clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
adopted  the  religion  of  his  uncle,  and  became  a  com- 
municant of  the  Episcopal  Church. 

Mr.  Spear,  after  becoming  a  candidate  for  Holy 
Orders,  entered  the  General  Theological  Seminary,  in 
New  York,  where  he  completed  his  preparatory 
theological  studies.  He  remained  in  Salisbury  about 
a  year,  when  he  removed  to  South  Carolina.  He 
afterwards  went  North,  where  he  became  a  dis- 
tinguished divine.  He  is  still  living  in  the  city  of 
Philadelphia.  His  parents  were  English  people,  who 
came  to  this  State  shortly  before  or  after  his  birth. 
He  married  ]\liss  Emily  Ewing,  of  Philadelphia,  who 
is  said  to  have  been  a  beautiful  woman.  During  his 
rectorship,  Mr.  Spear  and  his  wife  boarded  in  the 
family  of  the  late  Judge  James  ]^Iartin,  who  lived 
in  the  same  house  now  occupied  by  the  Rev.  J.  Rumple. 

Miss  Maria  Louisa  Spear,  an  elder  sister  of  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Spear,  also  resided  in  Salisbury  for  a  few  years. 
She  was  born  in  Paddington,  England,  April  12,  1804, 
and   died   near   Chapel   Hill,   January   4,    1881.     She 


448  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

educated,  both  directly  and  indirectly,  her  own  brother 
and  sisters,  and  became  a  prominent  and  useful  teacher 
of  many  young  ladies ;  and  all  her  pupils  have  retained 
through  Hfe  a  grateful  sense  of  the  value  of  her 
literary  instructions  and  religious  influence. 

Mrs.  Mary  S.  Henderson  and  Mrs.  Sarah  J.  Cain 
were  in  their  childhood  pupils  of  Miss  Spear.  When 
Miss  Spear  was  in  Salisbury,  she  lived  in  the  family 
of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Wright.  Miss  Ellen  Howard  was  an 
infant  at  that  time.  Miss  Spear  thought  her  a  beauti- 
ful child,  and  used  to  remark  what  a  pretty  picture 
the  child  would  make.  Aliss  Spear  is  said  to  have  been 
a  very  fine  artist. 

She  was  one  of  the  first  persons  confirmed  by  Bishop 
Ravenscroft,  and  became  an  intimate  friend  and  active 
helper  of  her  pastor,  ]\Ir.  Green,  of  Hillsboro,  now  the 
venerable  Bishop  of  ^lississippi,  who  has  recently 
spoken  of  her  as  an  ''incomparable  woman."  ]\Irs. 
Cornelia  P.  Spencer,  of  Chapel  Hill,  herself  a  Presby- 
terian, and  a  sister  of  the  Rev.  Charles  Phillips,  D,  D., 
thus  lovingly  writes  about  ]\Iiss  Spear  in  an  obituary 
article  in  The  Church  Messenger  of  January  27,  1881 : 

''Miss  ]\Iaria  Spear,  having  been  born  an  English- 
woman, remained  an  Englishwoman  all  her  life,  pos- 
sessing some  of  the  most  valuable  representative  char- 
acteristics of  that  nationality.  She  was  thorough,  she 
was  sincere,  she  was  quiet,  she  was  conservative,  and 
she  was  a  staunch  and  devout  churchwoman.  Her 
love  for  the  Episcopal  Church,  and  her  delight  in  its 
service,  was  in  her  blood.  She  has  been  teaching  in 
North  Carolina  for  fifty-six  years,  and  of  the  many 


EPISCOPACY  IN  ROWAN  449 

who  have  been  instructed  by  her,  and  the  many  friends 
who  have  loved  and  esteemed  her,  not  one,  perhaps, 
could  this  day  remember  in  her  an  inconsistency  or  an 
indiscretion  or  an  unkindness.  Miss  Maria  Spear 
passed  out  of  Hfe  on  the  same  night  in  which  her 
beloved  and  revered  Bishop  Atkinson  was  released 
from  his  suffering  forever.  Together  they  passed 
into  glory/' 

I  extract  the  following  from  Mr.  Spear's  report  to 
the  convention  of  1835  :  The  connection  with  Christ 
Church  'Svas  dissolved,  with  the  hope  that  each  of 
these  congregations  would  be  able  to  support  a  min- 
ister resident  among  themselves.  In  Salisbury,  the  ex- 
periment has  succeeded  to  a  degree;  though  it  is  not 
probable  that  the  present  plan  can  long  continue.  A 
large  and  influential  family,  with  other  individual 
members,  have  removed  to  the  West,  and  most  of  the 
remainder  who  are  interested  in  our  cause  are  antic- 
ipating the  same  result.  The  Sunday  School  has  re- 
cently been  opened,  though  that  part  of  town  open  to 
us  does  not  afford  more  than  twenty  scholars.  Junior 
and  senior  Bible  classes  are  held  in  the  week,  attended, 
I  believe,  with  serious  feeling."  Communicants,  seven- 
teen. He  also  occasionally  officiated  at  Charlotte  and 
Lincolnton. 

The  Rev.  M.  A.  Curtis,  then  missionary  deacon, 
located  at  Lincolnton,  occasionally  ministered  to  the 
Rowan  congregations  after  the  resignation  of  Mr. 
Spear.  He  afterwards  became  the  beloved  rector  of 
St.  ^latthew's  Church,  Hillsboro,  where  he  died  a  few 
years  ago.     He  was  a  man  of  great  piety  and  learning. 


450  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

The  Rev.  C.  J.Curtis,  editor  of  The  Church  Messenger, 
is  a  son  of  his,  and  the  Rev.  W.  S.  Bynum,  of  Winston, 
married  one  of  his  daughters. 

Sunday,  July  24,  1836,  Bishop  Ives  preached,  bap- 
tized six  infants,  confirmed  six  persons,  admin- 
istered the  Holy  Communion,  and  examined  the  chil- 
dren in  the  catechism,  in  St.  Luke's,  Salisbury. 

The  next  rector  of  the  congregation  of  Christ 
Church  and  St.  Luke's  was  the 

Rev.  Thomas  F.  Davis,  Jr. 

He  took  charge  in  November,  1836.  The  congre- 
gations had  been  suffering  from  the  want  of  regular 
religious  services,  and  from  the  removals  of  some  of 
the  most  valuable  members  of  St.  Luke's.  ]\Ir.  Davis, 
in  his  report  to  the  convention  of  1837,  prayed  to 
"Almighty  God  to  pour  upon  these  congregations  the 
abundance  of  his  heavenly  grace.  Their  pastor  can- 
not but  feel  his  own  insufficiency,  and  deplore  the  small 
apparent   fruit  of  his  labors." 

In  1838,  the  communicants  at  St.  Luke's  were  eigh- 
teen; at  Christ  Church,  seventy-eight.  One  of  the 
largest  families  connected  with  St.  Luke's  Church  had 
removed  to  the  W^est  during  the  previous  year.  Mr. 
Davis  reported  ''the  condition  of  the  church  in  Salis- 
bury as  not  encouraging."  "Christ  Church  was 
gradually  gaining  strength."  The  delegates  to  the 
convention  of  1839  from  St.  Luke's,  were  John  B. 
Lord,  William  Locke,  and  Charles  K.  Wheeler — the 
two  former  attended.  Mr.  Davis  reported  twenty-one 
communicants  at  St.  Luke's,  and  for  Christ  Church, 


EPISCOPACY   IX    ROWAN  45 1 

ninety-one.  Confirmations  at  the  latter  twenty-one 
(July  14  and  15,  1838).  "There  has  been  a  much 
larger  and  more  interested  attendance  upon  divine 
ordinances  than  heretofore.  An  increased  interest 
in  the  church  then  certainly  is  accompanied  with 
an  increased  degree  of  attention  to  the  Word  of 
God.  The  people  of  St.  Luke's,  entirely  of  their  own 
accord,  have  almost  doubled  the  pastor's  salary,  and 
have  in  every  respect  exhibited  towards  him  a  kind 
and  affectionate  regard."  "The  children  of  Christ 
Church  are  well  acquainted  with  the  Church  cate- 
chism." "At  Mills'  Settlement,  Iredell  County,  com- 
municants, eighteen.  The  cause  of  the  Church  is  on 
the  advance  in  this  part  of  the  country." 

The  twenty-fourth  convention  of  the  Diocese  met  in 
St.  Luke's  Church,  Sahsbury,  A\'ednesday,  ^lay  13, 
1840.  St.  Andrew's  Church,  Rowan  County,  was  ad- 
mitted into  union  with  the  convention.  Vestrymen 
were  Philip  Rice,  Jacob  Correll,  Samuel  Turner, 
Joseph  Turner,  and  John  Watson.  Delegates  to  con- 
vention, Joseph  Owens,  William  Heathman,  Samuel 
Turner,  and  John  Watson.  From  St.  Luke's,  A.  Hen- 
derson, John  B.  Lord,  Charles  A.  Beard,  William 
Chambers.  From  Christ  Church,  J.  E.  Dobbin,  William 
Chunn,  Thomas  Barber,  Joseph  Alexander.  Among 
the  names  of  many  other  lay  delegates  I  find  the  fol- 
lowing: Dr.  John  Beckwith,  Raleigh;  Thomas  S. 
Ashe,  Wadesboro.  Convention  sermon  was  preached 
by  Rev.  G.  W\  Freeman,  D.  D. 

The  Bishop  reported  that  he  had  visited  Salisbury 
on  the  fourth,  fifth,  sixth,  and  seventh  of  July,  1839, 


452  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN   COUNTY 

preached  five  times,  catechized  the  children,  and  con- 
firmed four  persons.  He  stated  that  it  had  been  an 
object  with  him  during  the  year  to  visit  every  com- 
municant, and  to  cathechize  every  baptized  person  of 
suitable  age  in  the  Diocese,  where  there  is  no  clergy- 
man or  established  congregation;  and  this  object  he 
had  nearly  accomplished. 

Mr.  Davis  was  chairman  of  the  committee  on  the 
state  of  the  Church  and  wrote  a  very  eloquent  and  en- 
couraging report — in  which  this  sentence  occurs :  "Not 
captivated  by  the  specious  but  seducing  influences  of 
the  day,  the  Church  has  remembered  always  that  to  her 
the  object  of  divine  faith  is  her  adorable  Redeemer 
and  Head ;  her  only  law  a  simple  and  entire  submission 
to  his  will  and  acquiescence  in  his  appointments.  She 
has  ceased  not  to  teach  and  to  preach  Jesus  Christ." 
Mr.  Davis*  report  to  the  convention  shows  the  follow- 
ing as  the  condition  of  his  charge :  Communicants — 
St.  Luke's,  twenty-five;  Christ  Church,  one  hundred; 
Iredell  County,  seventeen.  The  ladies  of  St.  Luke's 
had  lately  realized  two  hundred  and  forty  dollars  from 
a  Fair. 

The  first  confirmation  at  St.  Andrew's  Church  was 
on  August  30^  1840,  when  the  Church  was  consecrated. 
Eleven  persons  were  confirmed.  Communicants  re- 
ported to  the  convention  of  1841  :  St.  Andrew's,  29 ; 
Christ  Church,  92 ;  St.  Luke's,  26 ;  confirmations 
at  the  latter,  9.  Lexington,  ]\Iocksville,  and 
Huntsville  had  been  visited.  Rev.  C.  B.  Walker, 
deacon,  had  become  an  assistant  minister  to  Mr. 
Davis.      Bishop    Ives,    in    his    address    to    the    con- 


EPISCOPACY  IN  ROWAN  453 

vention  of  1842,  thus  alludes  to  the  field  of  labor 
under  the  charge  of  ]\lr.  Davis.  *'The  counties  of 
Rowan,  Davie,  Iredell,  Davidson,  and  Surry  come  un- 
der the  charge  of  another  faithful  Presbyter,  with  his 
associate  deacon.  The  missionaries  here  deserve  great 
attention,  and  claim,  although  they  have  hitherto  re- 
ceived comparatively  nothing,  a  share  of  your  bounty. 
They  have  been  able  to  sustain  themselves  only  by  lim- 
ited private  means."  The  delegates  elected  to  the 
convention  of  1S44,  from  St.  Luke's,  were  John  W. 
Ellis,  John  B.  Lord,  William  Locke,  and  Archibald  H. 
Caldwell. 

Mr.  Davis  removed  to  Camden,  S.  C,  the  latter  part 
of  the  year  1846,  after  a  continous  residence  in  Salis- 
bury of  ten  years.  He  was  admired,  respected,  and 
beloved  by  all  who  knew  him.  The  parish  records  of 
St.  Luke's  Church  before  the  rectorship  of  Mr.  Davis 
are  lost,  and  the  records  kept  by  him  are  incomplete. 
j\Irs.  Jane  C.  Mitchell  (now  Boyden)  is  the  first 
name  among  the  list  of  confirmations,  September  9, 
1837.  The  last  name  is  Charles  F.  Fisher,  September, 
1846.  Among  the  baptisms  is  this  entry:  ''July  24, 
1844,  James  i\lexander  Craige  and  George  Kerr 
Craige,  infants  of  Burton  and  Elizabeth  Craige,  Ca- 
tawba County."  Among  the  burials  are  the  following 
names:  November,  1841,  ]\Ir.  George  Baker;  August 
22,  1843,  Mrs.  Mary  N.  Steele;  January  24,  1844, 
W.  D.  Crawford."  Among  the  marriages  are  the 
following:  1843,  ^^-  George  B.  Douglas  and  Miss 
Mary  Ellis;  July,  ]\Ir.  Charles  F.  Fisher  and  EHza- 
beth  Caldwell ;  Xovember,  ]\Ir.  X.  Boyden  to  Mrs.  Jane 


454  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN   COUNTY 

Mitchell ;  Dr.  R.  Hill  to  Miss  ^I.  Fisher.  The  record 
of  marriages  before  the  year  1843  ^^^  not  been  pre- 
served. 

Thomas  Frederick  Davis  was  born  near  Wilmington, 
February  8,  1840;  was  a  brother  of  the  Hon.  George 
Davis,  once  a  member  of  the  Confederate  Cabinet,  as 
Attorney-General,  and  was  educated  at  the  University 
of  North  Carolina.  Among  his  seniors  were  Bishops 
Green  (of  Mississippi),  and  Otey  (of  Tennessee)  ; 
while  among  his  classmates  were  also  Bishop  Polk 
of  Tennessee,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Francis  L.  Hawks,  and 
Judge  William  H.  Battle.  He  studied  law  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar,  and  practiced  in  Wilmington  and 
the  neighboring  counties  for  several  years.  His  first 
wife  was  Miss  Elizabeth  Fleming,  of  Wilmington,  who 
died  in  the  year  1828.  He  was  shortly  thereafter 
confirmed,  and  admitted  to  the  Holy  Communion.  He 
immediately  became  a  candidate  for  Holy  Orders,  and 
was  ordained  deacon  by  Bishop  Ives,  November  27, 
1831.  In  1832,  he  was  ordained  priest.  The  first 
years  of  his  ministry  were  spent  in  hard  missionary 
work.  The  towns  of  Wadesboro  and  Pittsboro  were 
one  hundred  miles  apart,  and  in  each  of  these  he  gave 
services  on  the  alternate  Sunday,  driving  in  a  convey- 
ance from  one  to  the  other  during  the  week.  He 
had  now  married  again,  his  second  wife  being  Ann 
Ive  Moore,  also  of  Wilmington.  She  was  in  the  habit 
of  accompanying  him  in  his  missionary  drives ;  and 
when  the  question  was  once  asked  where  they  lived, 
the  answer  was  truly  given  in  these  words :  ''On  the 
road."     He  afterwards  became   rector  of   St.    James' 


EPISCOPACY  IN   ROWAN  455 

Church,  Wilmington,  and  remained  so  for  about  three 
years.     But  he  was  not  long  in  working  himself  down. 
The  city  missionary  work  was  constantly  engaging  his 
attention,  and  among  the  poor,  the  sailors,  and  the 
strangers,  he  was  ever  ready  to  do  his  Lord's  service. 
He  then  removed  to  Salisbury,  and  occupied  during  his 
residence  there  the  house  previously  owned  by  Judge 
Martin,   the   same  known   now   as  the  "Presbyterian 
manse,"   where  the   Rev.   J.   Rumple   resides.     While 
Mr.  Davis  remained  rector  of  St.  Luke's,  a  number  of 
young  theological  students  were  guided  by  him  in  their 
studies,  among  others  the  Rev.  Edwin  Geer,  who  mar- 
ried Alargaret  Beckwith,  a  daughter  of  Dr.  John  Beck- 
with  and  wife,  Margaret  Stanly,  at  one  time  residents 
of  Salisbury,  but  then  of  Raleigh.     Mrs.  Geer  was  the 
sister  of  the  present  Bishop  John  W.   Beckwith,  of 
Georgia,  and  both  she  and  her  brother  were  children 
of   :\Iargaret   Beckwith,   one  of  the  original   thirteen 
members  of  the  first  organized  Presbyterian  congrega- 
tion of  Salisbury.    From  Salisbury  Mr.  Davis  removed 
to  Camden,  S.  C,  and  became  rector  of  Grace  Church. 
He  labored  there  faithfully  for  nearly  six  years.     In 
May,  1853,  he  was  elected  Bishop  of  South  Carolina. 
He  was  consecrated  in  St.  John's  Chapel,  New  York, 
October  17,  1853.     Bishop  Atkinson,  of  North  Caro- 
lina, was  consecrated  at  the  same  time  and  place.  More 
than  thirty  Bishops  were  present.     The  Bishop-elect 
of  South  Carolina  was  presented  by  Bishop  William 
M.  Green,  of  Mississippi,  and  George  W.  Freeman,  of 
Arkansas.      Bishop    Davis    gradually    became    totally 
bhnd.     In  1858,  he  visited  England  and  the  continent 


456  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

of  Europe,  and  consulted  the  highest  medical  and 
surgical  authorities.  He  could  not  be  relieved.  He 
never  murmured,  but  bore  his  trial  meekly, 
patiently,  and  cheerfully.  He  died  in  Camden,  Decem- 
ber 2,  1 87 1.  He  was  a  wise  Bishop,  a  true  Christian, 
a  great  divine,  and  a  sincere,  pure,  good  man. 

The  next  pastor  of  the  congregations  in  Rowan 
County  was  the 

Rev.  John  Haywood  Parker 

The  statistics  of  his  first  report,  to  the  convention  of 
1847,  are:  Communicants — St.  Luke's  Church,  30; 
St.  Andrew's,  49;  Christ  Church,  89;  Mocksville,  9; 
Lexington,  6;  Mills'  Settlement,   17;  Huntsville,  4. 

Mr.  Parker  endeavored  to  supply  all  the  stations 
lately  served  by  Mr.  Davis  and  his  assistant,  Mr. 
Charles  Bruce  Walker.  The  removal  of  the  Rev.  i\Ir. 
Davis  to  South  Carolina  was  a  great  shock  to  Bishop 
Ives.  He  thus  alluded  to  the  subject  in  his  report 
to  the  convention:  "That  such  priests  as  the  Rev. 
Thomas  F.  Davis  should  be  allowed,  with  the  most 
heartfelt  reluctance,  to  leave  the  Diocese,  and  for  no 
other  reason  than  the  want  of  necessaries  of  Hfe,  is  to 
my  mind  a  problem  on  all  Christian  grounds  beyond 
the  possibility  of  solution.  No  circumstance  during 
the  fifteen  years  of  my  Episcopate  has  tended  so 
much  as  this  to  fill  me  with  sadness  and  apprehen- 
sion." The  Diocesan  Convention  met  in  St.  Luke's 
Church,  Salisbury,  May  24,  1849,  ^"^^  again  on  ]\Iay 
2^,  1857.  The  delegates  elected  to  the  last-named 
were  William  Murphy,  Charles  F.  Fisher,  Benjamin 


EPISCOPACY  IN  ROWAN  457 

Sumner,  and  Luke  Blackmer,  from  St.  Luke's  Church ; 
Thomas  Barber,  Thomas  Barber,  Jr.,  Jacob  F.  Barber, 
William  Barber,  Jonathan  Barber,  Matthew  Barber, 
R.  J.  M.  Barber,  and  William  F.  Barber,  from  Christ 
Church;  George  Mills,  John  A.  Mills,  Henry  M.  Mills, 
Franklin  Mills,  Andrew  Mills,  Israel  Mills,  George 
Mills,  Jr.,  and  Charles  Mills,  from  St.  James'  Church, 
Iredell  County.  In  1858,  Mr.  Parker  reported  the  com- 
municants at  St.  Luke's  to  be  74.  He  departed  this 
life,  September  15,  1858,  in  his  forty-sixth  year,  hav- 
ing been  bom  January  21,  1813.  He  was  baptized, 
November  7,  1841,  by  Rev.  Thomas  F.  Davis,  rector 
of  St.  Luke's  Church;  was  ordained  deacon.  May  31, 
1846,  and  priest  May  10,  1847,  by  Bishop  Ives. 

He  was  married  on  the  day  of  

18 to  Miss  •  who  lived  only  a 

few  months.  On  January  25,  1854,  he  was  married 
to  Mrs.  Ann  Lord,  widow  of  the  late  John  B.  Lord, 
and  daughter  of  the  late  Dr.  Stephen  L.  Ferrand.  The 
ceremony  was  performed  by  the  Rev.  Joseph  Blount 
Cheshire,  of  Tarboro,  who  was  a  brother-in-law  of 
Mr.  Parker.  Mr.  Theophilus  Parker  is  the  only  sur- 
viving child  of  this  union.  The  Rev.  John  H.  Par- 
ker was  a  faithful  servant  of  Christ,  and  was  greatly 
beloved  by  his  flock.  The  parish  paid  him  the  honor 
to  erect  a  handsome  marble  shaft  over  his  remains, 
which  were  buried  near  the  church  where  he  officiated 
so  constantly  and  acceptably  for  more  than  eleven 
years.  His  walk  and  conversation  in  this  world  was 
that  of  a  humble,  obedient,  patient,  and  God-fearing 


458  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

follower  of  Christ;  and  "he  died  the  death  of  the 
righteous." 

During  the  years  1847-48,  or  portions  thereof, 
the  Rev.  Oliver  S.  Prescott,  then  a  deacon,  was  the 
minister  in  charge  of  the  congregations  of  Christ 
Church  and  St.  Andrew's,  Rowan  County,  and  of  St. 
Phillip's  Church,  Alocksville.  He  reported  to  the  con- 
vention of  1848  that  there  were  eighty-seven  com- 
municants at  Christ  Church;  forty-seven  at  St.  An- 
drew's ;  seventeen  at  the  Mills'  Settlement ;  and  nine  at 
St.  Phillip's  Church,  Mocksville.  In  the  last-named 
Church  he  said  ''that  the  Holy  Days  had  been 
observed,  and  during  Lent  daily  prayers  were 
said."  He  was  ordained  priest  by  Bishop  Ives,  and 
removed  to  Massachusetts.  He  is  now,  and  has  been 
for  many  years,  rector  of  St.  Clement's  Church,  Phil- 
adelphia, where  he  has  built  up  a  numerous,  charitable, 
and  most  self-denying  congregation.  He  is  thoroughly 
devoted  to  his  calling,  and  his  parishioners  are  won- 
derfully attached  to  him.  He  is  identified  with  the  so- 
called  "rituahstic  party." 

During  the  next  few  years  the  same  congregations 
were  ministered  to  by  the  Rev.  James  G.  Jacocks,  who 
was  succeeded  in  the  year  1854  by  the 

Rev.   George  Badger  \\^etmore 

The  latter  is  still  ministering  with  great  acceptability 
to  the  congregations  of  Christ  Church  and  St.  An- 
drew's in  Rowan  County,  and  of  St.  James'  Church 
in  Iredell  County.  He  now  resides  in  Thomasville, 
N.  C,  and  is  building  up  an  Episcopal  congregation  in 


EPISCOPACY  IN   ROWAN  459 

that  growing  and  important  town.  The  writer  is  in- 
debted to  the  Rev.  Dr.  W'etmore  for  many  useful  facts 
mentioned  in  this  sketch  relating  to  the  Episcopal 
churches  and  families  of  this  county. 

The  Rev.  Thomas  G.  Haughton  succeeded  Mr.  Par- 
ker as  rector  of  St.  Luke's,  in  November,  1858.  He 
resigned  the  sixteenth  day  of  July,  1866;  and  shortly 
thereafter  abandoned  the  ministry.  He  died  in  the 
month  of  October,  1880,  in  the  town  of  Salisbury.  He 
was  married  on  the  twentieth  day  of  February,  i860, 
to  Mrs.  Ann  Parker,  widow  of  the  late  Rev.  John  H. 
Parker,  by  the  Rev.  George  B.  Wetmore,  D.  D. 
Thomas  Ferrand  Haughton,  now  in  his  sixteenth  year, 
is  the  only  child  of  this  union. 

The  next  rector  of  St.  Luke's  was  the 

Rev.  John  Huske  Tillinghast 
who  assumed  charge  in  the  spring  of  1867.  He  min- 
istered with  much  zeal  and  self-denial  until  June  14, 
1872,  when  he  removed  to  Richland  County,  S.  C, 
where  he  is  now  officiating  very  acceptably  to  several 
country  congregations.  He  is  remembered  with  great 
regard  and  affection. 

He  was  succeeded,  July  i,  1772,  by  the 

Rev.  Francis  J.  Murdock 

who  was  born  in  Buncombe  County,  N.  C,  March  17, 
1846;  ordained  deacon  in  St.  Luke's  Church,  Salis- 
bury, September,  1868,  and  priest  in  St.  Paul's  Church, 
Edenton,  May,  1870.  He  is  the  incumbent  of  the 
parish  at  the  present  time   (January,   1881). 


460  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

The  following  statistics  of  St.  Luke's  Parish  may 
prove  of  interest  to  the  curious.  Under  Mr.  Davis, 
confirmations,  33 ;  baptisms,  90.  Under  Mr.  Parker, 
confirmations,  35 ;  baptisms,  105.  Under  Mr.  Haugh- 
ton,  confirmations,  29;  baptisms,  no.  Under  Mr. 
Tillinghast,  confirmations,  36;  baptisms,  53.  Under 
Mr.  Murdock,  confirmations,  132;  baptisms,  123.  Dur- 
ing Mr.  Murdock's  rectorship  of  eight  years,  the  com- 
municants have  increased  more  than  one  hundred  per 
cent.  The  number  of  communicants  in  the  county  is 
224;  of  which  there  are  at  St.  Luke's,  118;  at  Christ 
Church,  ^2 ;  and  at  St.  Andrew's,  34.  The  whole 
number  of  Episcopal  Church  people  is  about  seven  hun- 
dred. The  largest  confirmation  class  under  Mr.  Davis — 
May  16,  1940 — numbered  nine,  including  John  B.  Lord, 
Mrs.  Ann  Lord,  IMisses  Julia  Beard,  Christian  Howard, 
and  others.  Some  of  the  names  in  the  other  classes  are 
William  Chambers,  Charles  Wheeler,  William  Locke, 
WilHam  Murphy,  Marcus  Beard,  Samuel  R.  Harrison, 
Eliza  Aliller,  Jane  Wheeler,  Ellen  ^^^oolworth,  Ellen 
Howard,  Rose  Howard,  Mary  S.  Henderson,  and 
Augusta  ]\L  Locke.  Mr.  Parker's  largest  class  num- 
bered 12 — March  28,  1858 — including  John  Willis 
EUis,  Louisa  ]\L  Shober,  Julia  Ann  Blackmer,  Ahce 
Jones,  Sarah  H.  Mitchell,  Ann  Macay,  and  Ellen  Sum- 
ner. Some  of  the  names  in  the  other  classes  are  ]\Iary 
Murphy,  Julia  Long,  Helen  B.  Bryce,  Sophie  Pearson, 
Mary  McRorie,  Laura  Henderson,  Jane  A.  Howard, 
Luke  Blackmer,  Nathaniel  Boyden,  James  ^lurphy. 
Mr.  Haughton's  largest  class  numbered  eleven — Jan- 
uary 29,  i860 — including  Archibald  Henderson,  John 


EPISCOPACY  IN  ROWAN  46 1 

M.  Coffin,  Fanny  Aliller,  H.  C.  Jones,  Jr.,  Frances 
C.  Fisher.  Some  of  the  names  in  the  other  classes 
are  Mary  Locke,  J.  M.  Jones,  EHzabeth  Vanderford, 
Henrietta  Hall,  Annie  McB.  Fisher,  Alice  L.  Pearson. 
Mr.  Tillinghast's  largest  class — November  21,  1869 — 
numbered  eight,  including  Laura  C.  Murphy,  John  R. 
Ide,  Julia  Ide.  Some  of  the  names  in  the  other  classes 
are  Robert  Murphy,  Jr.,  Charlotte  C.  Mock,  Anna  May 
Shober,  Lewis  Hanes,  Mary  E.  Alurphy,  Leonora 
Beard,  Mary  F.  Henderson.  Mr.  Murdock's  largest 
class — October  6,  1873 — numbered  thirty-four,  includ- 
ing Francis  E.  Shober,  Jr.,  William  C.  Blackmer,  Wil- 
liam Howard,  A.  J.  Mock,  and  Fanny  Kelly.  Some  of 
the  names  in  the  other  classes  are  Walter  H.  Holt, 
Charles  F.  Baker,  Peter  A.  Frercks,  Belle  Boyden, 
Joseph  O.  White,  Annie  Rowzee,  Caroline  McNeely, 
Penelope  Bailey,  Clarence  W.  Murphy,  Annie  Cuth- 
rell,  George  A.  Kluttz,  and  Lillian  Warner. 

Some  of  the  most  influential  and  distinguished 
names  which  have  adorned  the  annals  of  Rowan 
County  have  been  communicants  or  adherents  of  the 
Episcopal  Church.  I  have  already  spoken  of  the 
ante-Revolutionary  period.  Between  that  period  and 
the  year  1823,  when  Bishop  Ravenscroft  made  his  first 
Visitation  to  Salisbury,  the  following  may  be  confi- 
dently claimed  as  friendly  to  Episcopacy,  to  wit: 
Maxwell  Chambers,  Matthew  Troy,  Anthony  and 
John  Newnan,  Thomas  Frohock,  Lewis  Beard,  Spruce 
Macay,  Alfred  Macay,  Matthew  and  Francis  Locke, 
Joseph  and  Jesse  A.  Pearson.  John  L.  and  Archibald 


462  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

Henderson,  John  Steele,  William  C.  Love,  and  many 
Others. 

Since  the  year  1823,  many  of  the  most  distingriished 
citizens  of  the  State  have  either  been  communicants 
of  St.  Luke's  Church  or  members  of  its  congregation. 
John  \\\  Ellis  was  a  member  of  the  General  Assembly, 
a  Judge  of  the  Superior  Court,  and  Governor  of  the 
State.  Richmond  ]\I.  Pearson  became  Chief  Justice 
of  the  State ;  and  Nathaniel  Boyden  became  a  member 
of  Congress  and  an  Associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court.  James  ]\lartin,  Jr.,  Romulus  ]\L  Saunders,  and 
David  F.Caldwell  were  Judges  of  the  Superior  Courts. 
Mr.  Saunders  was  also  Attorney-General  of  the  State, 
and  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  Spain.  John  Beard, 
Jr.,  Thomas  G.  Polk.  Charles  F.  Fisher,  John  A.  Lil- 
lington,  John  B.  Lord,  A.  H.  Caldwell,  Stephen  L. 
Ferrand,  John  L.  Henderson,  Richard  H.  Alexander, 
William  Chambers,  H.  C.  Jones,  have  been  members 
of  the  General  xA.ssembly,  in  one  House  or  the  other; 
and  many  of  them  have  occupied  other  important 
public  stations.  Archibald  Henderson  was  a  member 
of  the  Council  of  State  under  Governors  Reid  and 
Ellis.  I  have  not  included  in  the  above  list  any  per- 
sons now  living.  A  large  majority  of  the  persons 
named  were  communicants. 

St.  Luke's  congregation  has  nearly  always  em- 
braced persons  in  every  walk  and  station  in  life — 
mechanics,  merchants,  lawyers,  doctors,  farmers,  and 
working  men  of  various  kinds.     Although  now  greatly 


EPISCOPACY  IN  ROWAN  463 

reduced  in  worldly  means  and  prosperity,  it  is  stronger 
than  at  any  previous  period  of  its  history,  and  its 
numbers  are  on  the  increase.  In  prosperity  as  well  as 
adversity,  its  greatest  strength  and  reliance — from 
human  point  of  view — has  ever  been  a  constantly  in- 
creasing band  of  intelligent,  devoted,  faithful,  and  no- 
ble-minded Christian  women. 


GERMAN  REFORMED  CHURCH 

For  the  origin  of  the  German  Reformed  Church  we 
must  look  to  the  mountains  of  Switzerland,  where 
Ulric  Zwingle  began  to  preach  the  gospel  in  its  purity, 
about  the  same  time  that  Luther  raised  his  voice  for 
Christ  in  Germany.  As  there  were  differences  of 
opinion  between  Zwingle  and  Luther  upon  the 
subject  of  the  "real  presence"  in  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per, as  well  as  upon  some  of  the  other  doctrines  of 
grace,  the  adherents  of  the  two  reformers  did  not 
unite  in  the  same  body.  After  the  death  of  Zwingle, 
his  followers  fell  naturally  in  with  the  churches  that 
were  founded  and  nurtured  by  Calvin.  In  Germany, 
as  well  as  in  Switzerland,  the  Reformed  Church  is 
Calvinistic  in  faith  and  Presbyterian  in  church  govern- 
ment. The  Heidelberg  Catechism  is  their  symbol,  and 
they  practice  the  rite  of  confirmation,  though  by 
many  this  rite  is  regarded  as  little  else  than  the  cere- 
mony of  admitting  candidates  who  give  evidences  of 
conversion  to  full  communion. 

The  German  Reformed  Church  in  the  United  States 
dates  its  origin  to  about  1740,  and  was  formed  by  im- 
migrants from  Germany  and  Switzerland,  who  settled 
in  the  eastern  portion  of  Pennsylvania.  About  this 
time  the  tide  of  German  immigration  flowed  south- 
ward, and  along  with  the  Lutherans  who  came  to 
Rowan  from  1745  and  onward  were  many  of  German 
Reformed  Church  affinities. 


466  history  of  rowan  county 

Lower  Stone,  or  Grace  Church 

lying  in  the  center  of  the  German  population  of  East- 
ern Rowan  is  the  parent  of  all  the  German  Reformed 
Churches  in  Rowan  County.  The  fathers  and  mothers 
of  these  inhabitants  came  into  this  region  along  with 
the  Lutheran  settlers  about  1750,  and  their  descendants 
may  still  be  found  on  or  near  the  old  homesteads.  The 
names  of  the  Reformed  famiHes  were  Lingle,  Berger, 
Fisher,  Lippard,  Peeler,  Holhouser,  Earnhardt,  Kluttz, 
Roseman,  Yost,  Foil,  Boger,  Shupping,  and  others  still 
familiar  in  that  region. 

According  to  the  custom  of  these  early  days,  the  set- 
tlers united  in  building  a  joint  or  union  church.  The 
first  church  erected  by  the  Lutherans  and  Reformed 
jointly  was  a  log  church  situated  about  six  miles 
northeast  of  the  present  Lower  Stone  Church,  which 
was  called  St.  Peter's  Church.  From  a  want  of  har- 
mony or  other  unknown  cause  a  separation  took  place, 
and  the  Lutherans  built  the  Organ  Church,  and  the 
Reformed  built  the  Lower  Stone  Church.  Both  these 
churches  were  of  stone  work,  and  were  named,  one 
from  its  organ,  and  the  other  from  the  material  of  its 
building.  The  land  for  the  Lower  Stone  Church  was 
purchased  from  Lorentz  Lingle  for  two  pounds  (£2), 
proclamation  money.  The  deed  bears  the  date  of 
1774,  and  conveys  the  land  to  Andrew  Holhouser  and 
John  Lippard  for  the  use  of  the  ''Calvin  congrega- 
tion." The  Reformed  Church  was  distinguished  from 
other  denominations  in  these  early  days  by  the  fact 
that  they   were   followers   of   the   great   reformer   of 


GERMAX  REFORMED  CHURCH  467 

Geneva,  John  Calvin,  who  perfected  the  reformation 
that  was  begun  in  Switzerland  by  Ulric  Zwingle.  The 
site  of  this  church  is  about  four  miles  west  of  Gold 
Hill,  on  the  Beattie's  Ford  Road.  The  first  structure 
was  of  logs,  but  they  were  not  long  content  with  so 
humble  a  building,  judging  rightly  that  a  house  erected 
for  the  worship  of  God  ought  to  be  superior  to  their 
own  dwellings.  The  Lutherans  had  just  completed 
their  house  of  stone,  and  in  the  year  1795  the  Re- 
formed Church  set  about  the  erection  of  their  church 
of  the  same  material.  The  cornerstone  was  laid  in 
1795,  under  the  pastorate  of  the  Rev.  Andrew  Lo.retz. 
Col.  George  Henry  Berger,  who  was  a  prominent 
member  of  the  Rowan  Committee  of  Safety  before 
the  Revolution,  and  Jacob  Fisher,  were  the  elders  of 
the  Church  at  this  time,  and  were  most  active  in  the 
erection  of  the  new  church.  But  many  trials  and  dis- 
couragements obstructed  the  good  work,  and  it  was 
not  until  November,  181 1,  sixteen  years  after  the  con- 
nerstone  was  laid,  that  the  building  was  completed  and 
dedicated  to  the  worship  of  God.  In  the  services  of 
that  occasion  Pastor  Loretz  was  assisted  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Robinson,  then  and  for  many  years  the  beloved 
pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Poplar  Tent. 

Previous  to  the  pastorate  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Loretz 
there  were  different  pastors,  whose  names  are  un- 
known. The  Rev.  :\Ir.  Beuthahn  resided  in  Guilford 
County,  organized  churches,  and  preached  among 
them,  but  supported  himself  chiefly  by  teaching  a 
German  school  in  the  southeast  corner  of  Guilford 
County. 


468  history  of  rowan  county 

Rev.  Samuel  Suther 

was  one  of  the  early  German  Reformed  ministers  in 
Guilford,  Rowan,  and  Cabarrus.  Governor  Tryon,  in 
his  Journal  for  1768,  relates  that  while  he  was  at 
Major  Phifer's  in  Mecklenburg  (now  Cabarrus), 
on  Sunday,  the  twenty-first  of  July,  he  ''heard  Mr. 
Luther,  a  Dutch  minister,  preach."  No  doubt  this 
is  a  misprint  for  Mr.  Suther,  since  there  is  no 
evidence  that  such  a  minister  as  Luther  was  here,  and 
there  is  evidence  of  the  presence  of  a  Rev.  Mr.  Suther. 
He  was  sent  out  from  the  old  country  to  preach  to 
the  German  Reformed  people  in  the  Carolinas,  and 
was  pastor  of  the  Guilford  charge  during  the  Revo- 
lutionary War.  Mr.  Suther  was  a  man  of  learning, 
and  an  uncompromising  patriot  during  the  struggle 
for  American  freedom.  His  residence  was  a  mile 
from  the  battleground  of  the  Regulators  in  Alamance, 
May  16,  1 771.  During  the  Revolution  he  was  an  out- 
spoken patriot,  and  so  obnoxious  to  the  Tories  that 
he  was  often  compelled  to  hide  himself  from  their 
vengeance.  It  is  said  that  there  was  but  one  single 
Tory  in  his  entire  charge.  Captain  Weitzell,  a  mem- 
of  Mr.  Suther's  Church,  commanded  a  Company  in 
the  battle  of  Guilford  Courthouse,  that  was  made  up 
of  members  of  the  Reformed  Church.  The  records 
of  Lower  Stone  Church  mention  Samuel  Suther  as 
its  pastor  in  1782,  and  that  he  had  removed  thither 
from  Guilford  County.  This  was  in  the  days  of 
Tory  ravages,  when  Col.  David  Fanning  and  his  troop 
of  marauders  struck  terror  into  the  region  that  ex- 


GERMAN  REFORMED  CHURCH  469 

tends  from  Guilford  to  Cumberland  County.  As  he 
had  many  enemies  around  him,  he  found  it  expedient 
to  remove  to  a  more  peaceful  region.  The  date  of 
his  death  and  the  place  of  his  burial  are  unknown  to 
the  writer.  There  are  a  number  of  families  by  the 
name  of  Suther  residing  in  and  near  Concord. 

The  records  of  Lower  Stone  Church  show  that  after 
Pastor  Loretz's  time  for  many  years  the  church  was 
served  by  the  loving,  gentle,  and  patient  servant  of 
God,  the  Rev.  George  Boger.  Mr.  Boger  was  suc- 
ceeded in  183 1  by  Dr.  B.  Lerch,  who  came  among  this 
people  in  the  early  days  of  his  ministry,  finished  his 
course  here,  and  his  dust  now  rests  in  the  adjoining 
graveyard. 

Mr.  Lerch  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  John  Lantz, 
who,  after  a  few  years,  removed  to  Catawba  County, 
and  from  thence  to  Hagerstown,  Md.,  where  he 
finished  his  earthly  labors  in  1852. 

Mr.  Lantz  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  Thornton  But- 
ler, who  had  associated  with  him  for  a  short  time  the 
Rev.  Gilbert  Lane.  Mr.  Lane  removed  to  New  York, 
and  in  1868  the  Rev.  Mr.  Butler  removed  to  lUinois 
and  there  died.  The  next  pastor  of  the  Lower  Stone 
Church  was  the  Rev.  J.  C.  Denny,  of  Guilford.  Mr. 
Denny  was  educated  for  a  Presbyterian  minister,  and 
was  licensed  by  Orange  Presbytery.  Seceding  from 
the  Presbyterians,  he  was  received  and  ordained  by 
the  German  Reformed  Classis,  and  served  some  of 
their  churches  in  Rowan  County  for  a  number  of 
years.  Finding  at  length  the  German  Reformed 
Church  not  congenial  to  his  tastes,  he  again  seceded. 


470  •    HISTORY  OF  ROWAN   COUNTY 

and  was  received  into  the  Baptist  Church,  and  is  still 
a  Baptist.  The  Lower  Stone  Church,  after  IMr.  Den- 
ny's secession,  was  served  for  awhile  by  Professors 
Clapp  and  Foil,  of  the  Catawba  College,  and  for  the 
last  few  years  by  the  Rev.  R.  F.  Crooks,  who  is  now 
pastor. 

Mount  Hope 

formerly  called  St.  Paul's,  is  an  offshoot  of  Lower 
Stone  or  Grace  Church.  The  church  was  organized 
about  1835  or  1840,  from  members  of  the  Reformed 
and  Lutheran  Churches  living  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Holshouser's  Mill,  now  known  as  Heilig's  ]Mill.  The 
land  for  the  church  was  given  by  Andrew  Holshouser, 
a  member  of  the  Reformed  Church.  In  1866  the 
church  was  removed  about  three  miles  further  south, 
to  a  point  on  the  New  Concord  Road,  seven  miles 
south  of  Salisbury.  Here  a  new  brick  church  sixty  by 
forty  feet  has  been  erected.  The  congregation  was 
served  first  by  the  Rev.  John  Lantz.  The  Rev.  Thornton 
Butler  became  pastor  in  1852,  and  served  them  until 
1857.  He  had  associated  with  him  for  awhile  the  Rev. 
Gilbert  Lane.  Mr.  Butler  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev. 
J.  C.  Denny,  and  he  by  the  Rev.  P.  'M.  Trexler,  and  he, 
in  1878,  by  the  Rev.  John  Ingle,  who  is  the  present 
pastor. 

Shiloh  Church 

of  the  Reformed  Classis  was  organized  ]\Iarch  19, 
1 87 1,  by  Rev.  J.  C.  Denny,  with  seventeen  members, 
and   has  now   thirty-four  members.     The  pastors   of 


GERMAN  REFORMED  CHURCH  47 1 

this  church  have  been  Rev.  J.  C.  Denny,  from  March, 
1871,  to  March,  1873;  Rev.  P.  M.  Trexler,  from 
March,  1873,  to  March,  1876;  Rev.  J.  C.  Denny,  from 
March,  1876,  to  January,  1878;  Rev.  John  Ingle,  from 
January,   1878. 

St.   Luke's  Reformed  Church 

v^as  organized  December  31,  1871,  by  Rev.  P.  M. 
Trexler,  with  twenty  members,  and  now  has  forty- 
five  members.  Rev.  P.  M.  Trexler  was  pastor  from 
December  31,  1871,  to  June,  1877;  Rev.  John  Ingle, 
from  January  i,  1878,  to  present  time. 

Mount  Hope,  Shiloh,  and  St.  Luke's  are  offshoots 
of  Lower  Stone  (Grace  Church). 

Mount  Zion  Reformed  Church 

is  situated  ten  miles  south  of  Salisbury  on  the  Con- 
cord Road.  Next  to  Lower  Stone  it  is  probably  the 
oldest  Reformed  Church  in  the  county.  For  many 
years  this  church  worshiped  in  the  same  house  with 
the  Lutherans  at  ''Savage's."  But  when  the  Luther- 
ans erected  a  new  church,  about  forty  years  ago,  the 
German  Reformed  erected  a  new  church  also  near  the 
old  site,  and  named  it  Mount  Zion.  They  have  lately 
erected  a  second  handsome  brick  church.  This  church 
has  been  served  by  a  succession  of  ministers,  in  many 
cases  the  same  who  served  the  Lower  Stone  Church. 
Rev.  P.  M.  Trexler  is  the  present  pastor.  The  author 
regrets  that  his  efforts  to  get  accurate  statistics  of  this 
church  have  failed,  and  that  he  is  compelled  to  give 
such  a  general  account  of  it. 


472  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN   COUNTY 

Rowan  County  contains  three  charges  of  the  Ger- 
man Reformed  Church :  Central  Rowan,  Rev.  John 
Ingle  pastor,  139  members;  West  Rowan,  Rev.  P.  M. 
Trexler  pastor,  290  members ;  East  Rowan,  Rev.  R. 
F.  Crooks  pastor,  433  members.  Pastors  3,  Churches 
5,  members  862.  From  the  total  membership  we 
must  subtract  about  145  members  who  belong  to 
Mount  Gilead  Church,  in  Cabarrus  County. 


THE  BAPTIST  CHURCHES  OF  ROWAN 

According  to  Benedict's  "History  of  the  Baptists," 
the  oldest  church  of  this  denomination  in  America  is 
the  First  Baptist  Church,  of  Providence,  R.  I.  Roger 
W^illiams,  having  been  banished  from  Massachusetts 
by  the  General  Court,  by  a  decree  adopted  in  Novem- 
ber, 1635,  because  he  taught  that  the  civil  magistrate 
ought  not  to  interfere  in  cases  of  heresy,  apostasy, 
and  for  other  offenses  against  the  first  table  of  the 
law,  wandered  into  the  regions  outside  the  jurisdiction 
of  Massachusetts,  and  the  following  year  laid  the 
foundations  of  the  city  of  Providence.  In  the  course 
of  three  years  a  number  of  families  cast  in  their  lot 
with  Williams,  and  in  March,  1639,  he  and  Ezekiel 
Holliman  and  ten  others,  met  to  organize  a  church. 
The  whole  company  regarded  themselves  as  unbap- 
tized,  and  as  they  knew  none  to  whom  they  could 
apply  for  baptism,  they  appointed  Mr.  Holliman  to 
baptize  Mr.  Williams,  and  he  in  his  turn  baptized  Mr. 
Holliman  and  the  ten  others.  The  families  of  these 
first  members  probably  also  belonged  to  their  church, 
and  in  a  short  time  they  were  reinforced  with  twelve 
other  members.  From  this  beginning  this  denomina- 
tion gradually  spread  abroad  through  New  England, 
and  in  the  middle  colonies.  The  growth  was  not 
rapid,  for  at  the  expiration  of  the  first  hundred  years 
it  is  estimated  that  there  were  but  thirty-seven  Bap- 
tist churches  in  America,  and  probably  less  than  three 


474  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

thousand  members.  At  this  period,  however,  there 
began  an  era  of  extraordinary  growth.  In  1740, 
George  \\'hitefield  began  to  preach  in  Boston,  and 
mukitudes  were  converted  to  God.  Many  of  these  con- 
verts became  Baptists,  and  were  called  ''Separates"  or 
"New  Lights."  Seven  of  these  "Separates"  organized 
the  Second  Baptist  Church,  of  Boston,  and  their  views 
spread  abroad. 

In  1754,  Shubeal  Steams,  with  eight  families  and 
sixteen  members,  set  out  from  Boston  for  the  South. 
After  halting  for  awhile  in  Virginia,  they  settled 
ultimately  on  Sandy  Creek,  in  Randolph  County, 
N.  C.  They  were  of  the  "Separate,"  or  "New 
Light"  order  of  Baptists.  They  were  not,  however, 
the  first  Baptists  in  North  Carolina.  As  far  back  as 
1727,  Paul  Palmer  gathered  a  Baptist  Church  at  a 
place  called  Perquimans,  on  the  Chowan  River.  About 
1742,  one  William  Sojourner  led  a  colony  from  Berk- 
ley County,  Va.,  and  established  a  Baptist  Church 
on  Kehukee  Creek,  in  Halifax  County,  N.  C. 
But  the  Sandy  Creek  Church,  under  Shubeal 
Stearns,  was  the  first  organization  of  the  kind  in  \\^est- 
ern  North  Carohna.  In  1854,  the  Baptists  of  North 
Carolina  were  visited  by  the  Rev.  John  Gano,  the  Rev. 
Benjamin  Miller,  and  the  Rev.  Peter  P.  Vanhorn,  who 
were  sent  South  by  the  Philadelphia  Association. 
AMien  the  Rev.  Hugh  McAden,  a  Presbyterian  minis- 
ter, visited  North  Carolina  in  1755,  he  found  a  ]\Ir. 
Miller — he  says — a  Baptist  minister,  preaching  and 
visiting  in  the  Jersey  Church.  By  his  labors  and  those 
of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Gano,  a  Baptist  Church  was  estab- 


BAPTIST   CHURCHES  OF  ROWAN  475 

lished  at  the  Jersey  Meeting-house,  that  has  continued 
from  that  day  to  this.  Mr.  AIcAden  expressed  the 
fear  that  the-  Presbyterians,  who  seem  to  have  been 
the  most  numerous  previous  to  that  time,  would  soon 
become  too  weak  to  call  or  support  a  minister.  His 
fears  have  been  realized. 

About  1768  or  1770,  the  Rev.  ]\Ir.  Draige,  an  Epis- 
copal minister,  effected  an  organization  of  the  Episco- 
pal Church  in  the  "J^^^eys/'  but  that  church  too 
ceased,  in  time,  to  occupy  the  field.  The  Baptists  re- 
mained in  possession,  and  the  Jersey  Church  became 
the  parent  of  nearly  all  the  Baptist  Churches  of 
Rowan.  There  were  other  Baptist  Churches,  a  hun- 
dred years  ago,  on  the  Uwharie  River,  on  Abbott's 
Creek,  and  in  Surry  County.  But  for  three  quarters 
of  a  century  this  denomination  made  little  progress  in 
the  present  limits  of  Rowan.  The  churches  as  they 
now  exist,  as  well  as  can  be  ascertained,  originated  as 
follows : 

Flat  Creek 

is  a  Primitive  Baptist  Church,  and  is  situated  in  the 
edge  of  Rowan,  near  the  Stanly  line,  on  the  Yadkin 
River,  and  was  considered  an  old  church  forty  years 
ago.  It  is  probably  an  offshoot  of  the  Sandy  Creek 
Church  of  Shubeal  Stearns.  The  membership  is 
small. 

CORIXTH 

is  situated  at  ^lorgan's  muster  ground,  about  fourteen 
miles   east  of   Salisbury,   about   four  miles   from  the 


476  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

Yadkin.  It  was  organized  in  1868,  from  converts 
of  a  meeting  held  by  the  Rev.  ^Messrs.  ]\Iorton,  Carter, 
and  Lambeth.  This  church  has  the  largest  member- 
ship— about  one  hundred — of  any  Baptist  Church  in 
the  county,  and  has  a  neat  and  comfortable  house  of 
worship.     Rev.  ]\Ir.  Hodge  is  the  pastor. 

Mount  Zion 

was  organized,  in  1867,  from  converts  of  the  same 
meeting.  This  church  has  about  twelve  members, 
and  worships  in  an  arbor,  eleven  miles  from  Salisbury, 
beyond  Dutch  Second  Creek.  Rev.  J.  C.  Denny 
preaches  there. 

Gold  Hill 

Church  was  organized  in  1871.  This  church  owns  a 
house,  but  its  membership  is  not  very  large.  Rev. 
J.  B.  Stiers  was  their  first  preacher.  After  him  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Stokes  preached  to  them  awhile. 

Trading  Ford 

Church  was  established  as  a  branch  of  the  Jersey 
Church  in  1756,  and  was  served  by  the  Rev.  William 
Lambeth  for  fifteen  years,  beginning  in  1853,  before 
the  organization,  and  continuing  until  1869.  They 
commenced  in  the  woods,  with  a  schoolhouse  and  an 
arbor,  but  have  now  a  comfortable  building  of  their 
own,  eight  miles  east  of  Salisbury,  on  the  Miller's 
Ferry  Road.  In  the  summer  of  1870,  Elders  Bessent, 
Allison,  and  one  other,  met  as  a  Presbytery  and  or- 
ganized  it   a    full   and   separate    church.      Since    Mr. 


BAPTIST   CHURCHES  OF   ROWAN  477 

Lambeth  ceased  to  minister  to  them  they  have  had  as 
ministers,  Rev.  C.  W.  Bessent,  Rev.  W.  R.  Gwaltny, 
Rev.  S.  F.  Conrad,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Morton. 

Salisbury  Baptist  Church 

On  the  eleventh  of  August,  1849,  the  Baptists  wor- 
shiping in  Salisbury  were  set  off  as  a  branch  of  the 
Jersey  Church,  under  the  ministry  of  the  Rev.  S.  J. 
O'Brien,  a  talented  and  earnest  preacher  of  the  gos- 
pel. The  next  year — April  21,  1850 — the  Rev.  J.  B. 
Soloman  became  minister  in  charge,  and  the  following 
month  (May  26)  the  Branch  was  constituted  a 
regular  Baptist  Church,  with  Mr.  Soloman  as  pastor, 
and  John  A.  Wierman  as  church  clerk.  There  were 
at  that  time  ten  white  and  eight  colored  members, 
eighteen  in  all.  In  August  of  the  same  year,  the 
church  united  with  the  Liberty  Association.  In 
September,  185 1,  Mr.  Soloman  resigned,  and  the 
church  was  vacant  until  November  6,  1852,  when  Rev. 
R.  H.  Griffith  took  charge  and  served  it  until  1854. 
In  1856,  the  Rev.  J.  C.  Averitt  estabHshed  a  school  in 
Salisbury,  and  served  the  church  for  one  year.  In 
1857,  the  Rev.  William  Lambeth,  of  Salisbury,  who 
had  been  ordained  in  1854,  and  was  preaching  at 
Trading  Ford,  was  chosen  pastor  of  the  church.  Be- 
ing destitute  of  a  house  of  their  own,  and  the  war  com- 
ing on  in  a  few  years,  the  little  band  was  scattered, 
and  services  were  suspended. 

Near  the  close  of  the  war,  the  Rev.  Theodore  \A^hite- 
field  preached  in  Salisbury  occasionally,  but  for  ten 
years  after  this  time,  no  regular  services  were  held 


478  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

by  this  church.  In  November,  1876,  the  North  Caro- 
lina Baptist  Association  appointed  the  Rev.  J.  B. 
Boone  to  labor  in  Sahsbury,  and  rebuild,  if  possible, 
this  declining  church.  Seven  members  rallied  around 
him,  only  seven  of  the  fifty-seven  who  were  here  in 
1855.  On  the  third  of  February,  1877,  the  church 
was  dissolved  in  order  to  form  a  new  organization, 
with  others  who  were  to  be  added  by  baptism.  On 
the  next  day  twelve  others  were  baptized,  and  on  the 
following  day  (February  5,  1877),  ^  Presbytery  con- 
sisting of  the  Rev.  Messrs.  F.  M.  Jordan,  W.  R. 
Gwaltny,  Theodore  Whitefield,  William  Lambeth,  and 
J.  B.  Boone,  constituted  the  Salisbury  Baptist  Church, 
with  nineteen  members.  In  September  following,  the 
church  united  with  the  South  River  Association. 

This  church  does  not  yet  possess  a  house  of  wor- 
ship, but  services  are  held  twice  a  month  in  a  public 
hall.  Nearly  two  years  ago,  however,  a  lot  near  the 
courthouse  was  secured  for  four  hundred  dollars. 
Since  that  time  a  more  desirable  lot,  on  the  corner  of 
Church  and  Council  Streets,  adjoining  Oak  Grove 
Cemetery,  has  been  secured,  and  there  they  expect 
soon  to  erect  a  church. 

The  present  number  of  members  is  fifty.  Cal- 
vinistic  in  doctrine,  congregational  in  government,  of 
the  order  called  ^Missionary  Baptists,  this  church  holds 
up  the  light  of  the  Gospel  and  points  sinners  to  the 
Lamb  of  God. 

The  materials  for  this  sketch  have  been  collected 
from   Benedict's    ''History   of    the     Baptists,"    notes 


BAPTIST   CHURCHES  OF  ROWAN  479 

furnished  by  Rev.  J.  B.  Boone,  and  recollections  of 
Rev.  William  Lambeth. 

In  closing  these  sketches  of  the  Rowan  Churches, 
it  may  be  remarked  that  there  are  a  few  small  Protest- 
ant Alethodist  Churches  in  the  county,  and  perhaps  a 
Northern  Methodist  Church  or  two,  but  the  writer 
has  no  facts  in  possession  concerning  them.  There 
are  also  a  number  of  Roman  Catholics  in  Salisbury, 
who  are  visited  occasionally  by  priests  from  Charlotte 
and  elsewhere. 

Since  their  emancipation,  the  colored  people  of 
Rowan  have  formed  themselves  into  churches  in  all 
parts  of  the  county.  In  Salisbury  there  are  two  Bap- 
tist colored  churches,  one  Methodist,  and  one  Presby- 
terian, with  their  regular  pastors,  and  each  of  these 
denominations  have  several  churches  in  the  county. 
Some  of  these  ministers,  especially  in  the  town,  are 
well-educated,  earnest,  and  pious  men,  and  are  labor- 
ing to  elevate  their  people,  not  only  by  their  regular 
pulpit  ministrations,  but  by  means  of  schools  for  their 
daily  instruction.  They  are  now  working  out  the 
great  problem  of  their  social  regeneration,  and  ac- 
cumulating by  their  efforts  materials  that  may  be 
properly  and  profitably  incorporated  in  some  future 
History  of  the  Churches  of  Rowan. 


APPENDIX 


ROLL  OF  HONOR 


Appendix 


Roll  of  Honor 

The  following  Roll  of  Honor  embraces  the  names 
of  the  officers  and  privates  from  Rowan  County  who 
served  in  the  Confederate  x\rmy,  and  who  continued 
in  service  until  they  were  killed,  captured,  or  honor- 
ably discharged.  There  are  doubtless  a  number  of 
other  names  entitled  to  a  place  in  this  roll,  that  have 
not  been  reported.  The  compiler  has,  however,  used 
due  diligence  in  gathering  information  from  all  ac- 
cessible sources.  The  great  body  of  the  names  has 
been  courteously  furnished  by  Col.  W.  L.  Saunders 
and  Col.  J.  ]\IcLeod  Turner,  from  the  Roll  of  Honor 
deposited  in  the  State  Capitol.  Extensive  additions 
have  been  made  to  the  original  roll  by  surviving  offi- 
cers and  privates  in  Salisbury,  under  the  supervision 
of  Mr.  C.  R.  Barker. 

The  following  abbreviations  are  employed : 
a. — age. 
c. — captured. 
Capt. — captain. 
Col. — colonel. 
Cor. — corporal, 
d. — died, 
d.  in  p. — died  in  prison. 


484  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN   COUNTY 

d.  of  d. — died  of  disease. 

en. — date  of  entrance  into  service. 

h.  d. — honorably  discharged. 

k.— killed. 

Lt. — lieutenant. 

Ord.   Sgt.— ordnance  sergeant. 

pr. — promoted. 

Sgt. — sergeant. 

tr. — transferred. 

w. — wounded;  and  a  number  of  others. 


PAYMASTER'S  DEPARTMENT 
Joseph  K.  Burke,  2d.  Lt. ;  Enrolling  Officer;  office  at 

Statesville,  N.  C. 
William   G.    McNeely,    Capt.,    Paymaster   of    Second 

Army  Corps. 
J.  C.  Swicegood,  Confederate  States  Navy,  Charles- 
ton, S.  C. 


QUARTERMASTER  DEPARTMENT 
R.    P.    Bessent,    Capt.    Quartermaster    Forty-Second 

Regiment. 
William  H.  Neave;  commissioned  Bandmaster  Army 

of  Northern  Virginia. 


SECOND  REGIMENT  CAVALRY 
Company  B 
Privates 
Maloney,  J.  P. ;  k. 


APPENDIX  485 

FOURTH  REGIMENT  CAVALRY 

Company  E 

Privates 

Cauble,   Henry. 

Cauble,  John ;  w.  at  Gettysburg. 

Danis,  John. 

Hartman,  Luke. 

Thomas,  Charles. 


NINTH  REGIMENT  CAVALRY 
Company  C 
Privates 
Cauble,  J.  D. ;  en.  July  3,  1861 ;  a.  20. 


Company  F 

Officers 
Kerr  Craige,  5th.  Sgt. ;  en.   1861 ;  a.   18;  pr.  2d.  Lt. 

Company  I,  August  24,  1862. 
Privates 
Bernhardt,  Caleb  T. 
Bernhardt,  Crawford. 
Bost,  Henry  C. 
Brown,  Pleasant. 
Cowan,  William  L. ;  en.  June  15,  1861 ;  a.  20;  d.  of  d. 

at  Centerville,  Va.,  December  30,  1861. 
Fisher,  Charles  H. ;  en.  June  15,  1861 ;  a.  20;  w. 
Howerton,  A.  W. ;  en.  June  15,  1861 ;  a.  27. 
Johnston,  James  G. ;  en.  June  15,  1861 ;  a.  22;  pr.  to 

I  St.  Cor. 


486  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN   COUNTY 

Luhn,  Gustave  J.;  en.  June  15,  1861  ;  a.  22. 

Miller,  Henry  G. ;  en.  March  20,  1862;  a.  25. 

Pearson,  Charles  W. ;  en.  June  15,  1861  ;  a.  22\  tr. 
from  Company  B,  Tenth  Virginia  Cavalry ;  pr.  to 
2d.  Lt.  Fifth  North  Carolina  Cavalry,  February, 
1863;  pr.  to  Capt.  July,  1864. 

Sides,  Reuben  A.;  en.  June  15,  1861 ;  a.  21. 

Stiller,  Charles  M. ;  en.  June  15,  1861 ;  a.  24;  k. 


FIRST  REGIMENT  ENGINEERS,  ARTILLERY, 

AND  ORDNANCE  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

STATE  TROOPS 

Company  D   (Rowan  Artillery) 
Officers 
John  A.  Ramsey,  Senior  ist.  Lt. ;  pr.  to  Capt. 
William  Myers,  Junior  ist.  Lt. 
Jesse  F.  Woodard,  Senior  2d.  Lt. 
William  L.  Saunders,  Junior  2d.  Lt. 
E.  Myers,  Senior  2d.  Lt. 
W.  R.  Dicks,  ist  Sgt. 
Edward  F.  Kern,  2d.  Sgt. 
I.  D.  J.  Louder,  3d.  Sgt. 
Silas  Sheppard,  4th.  Sgt. 

Francis  Schaffer,  Quartermaster-Sgt. ;  pr.  to  Lt. 
Matthew  Moyle,  ist  Cor. 
James  M.  Crowell,  2d.  Cor. 
William  H.  Bucket,  3d.  Cor. 

A.  A.  Holhouser,  4th.  Cor. ;  pr.  to  Ord.  Sgt. ;  d.  of  d. 
Jerre   Pierce,   Artificer. 
Zudock  Riggs,  Bugler;  k.  at  Richmond. 


APPENDIX  487 

Privates 
Agner,  H.  C. 

Baily,  John  T. ;  pr.  to  Sgt. 
Baine,  David;  d.  in  p. 
Basinger,  Jere  W. ;  h.  d. 
Bell,  Joseph  F. 
Black,  William  H. ;  d.  of  d. 
Braddy,  Benjamin. 
Braddy,  Moses  G. 
Brady,  David. 
Brady,  John. 
Brady,  Joseph. 
Bringle,  John. 
Brown,  C.  L. 
Brown,  H.  M. 
Brown,  Richard  L- 

Bulaboa,  Lorenzo ;  k.  by  explosion  of  caisson. 
Bunage,  James. 

Campbell,  W. ;  w.  at  Malvern  Hill. 
Carter,  John. 
Casper,  Alex. 
Cauble,  Henry  M. 
Clampet,  John. 
Cranford,  W.  H. 
Cowan,  Richard,  Jr. 
Crowell,  H.  H. ;  pr.  to  Cor. 
Crowell,  Richard  E. 
Crowell,  Thomas. 
Crowell,  William. 
Daniel,  Amos. 
Earnhardt,  /\bram ;  k.  at  Malvern  Hill. 


488  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN   COUNTY 

Earnhardt,  James  P. 
Earnhardt,  Robert. 

Earnhardt,  Thomas  M. ;  w.  near  Richmond. 
Earnhardt,  Wiley. 
Elkins,  Owen  L. 
Eller,  F. ;  k.  accidentally. 
Eller,  Farley;  w. 
Eller,  Jacob. 
Eller,  James  I. 
Eller,  Milas. 
Eller,  William. 
Fraley,   White. 
Frick,  Levi. 

Frick,  Moses ;  w.  at  Gettysburg. 
Glover,  Richard. 
Goodman,  Tobias ;  d.  of  d. 
Gorman,  James  A. 

Hardester,  John  W. ;  w.  at  Malvern  Hill ;  w.  at  Gettys- 
burg. 
Hardester,  Thomas ;  d.  of  d. 
Hall,  Stockton  S. 
Hodge,  Abram. 

Hoffman,  Nathan;  k.  at  Gettysburg. 
Hoffman,  William. 
Holshouser,  Alex. 
Holshouser,  C. 
Holshouser,  Mike. 

Holshouser,  Rufus ;  w.  at  Malvern  Hill. 
Honbarger,  John. 
Howard,  Andrew  M. 
Huff,  William  H. 


APPENDIX  489 

Irby,  William  H. 

Jackson,  Andrew. 

Julian,  James. 

Kepley,  Calvin;  k.  at  Sharpsburg. 

Kistler,  Daniel. 

Kistler,  Henry  R. 

Kinney,  Calvin  S. ;  d.  of  d. 

Kluttz,  Henry. 

Kluttz,  Jacob. 

Kluttz,  Peter. 

Kluttz,  Rufus,  Jr. 

Kluttz,  Rufus,  Sr. 

Lemley,  Jacob. 

Linn,  James  F. 

Lyerly,  Joseph  M. 

McCombs,  William. 

May,  Calvin. 

May,  Robert. 

Miller,  H.  M.;  k.  at  Sharpsburg. 

Miller,  Lawson. 

Miller,  Rolin. 

Miller,  Uriah. 

Misenheimer,  D.  L;  k.  at  Sharpsburg. 

Mitchel,  J. 

Morgan,  C.  W. 

Morgan,  Joe. 

Oldham,  Josiah. 

Owen,  Henry;  k.  at  Gettysburg. 

Parks,  Daniel. 

Parks,  John  F. 

Parks,  Joseph  D. 


49<^  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN   COUNTY 

Parks,  William. 

Peeler,  A.  L. 

Peeler,  Alf.  M. 

Peeler,  Daniel. 

Pool,  H.  C. 

Richards,  John. 

Riggs,  John. 

Rowe,  Benjamin  C. 

Rowe,  S.  A. 

Rufty,  Milas  A. ;  k.  at  Malvern  Hill. 

Ruth,  Andrew  J. ;  w.  at  Malvern  Hill. 

Ruth,  Lorenzo  D. 

Seaford,  Daniel. 

Seaford,  Simeon. 

Skillicorn,  William ;  w.  at  Culpeper  Courthouse. 

Terrell,  Thomas;  tr.  to  Navy. 

Thomas,  Thomas. 

Thompson,  Thomas. 

Trexler,  Allen. 

Trexler,  David;  w.  at  Malvern  Hill. 

Trexler,  Jesse  L. 

Trexler,  Peter  ^M. 

Troutman,  Daniel,  d.  in  p. 

Troutman,  Rufus. 

Troutman,  Rufus;  d.  of  d. 

Waller,  Crusoe. 

Waller,  Lewis  A. 

Weaver,  Tobias. 

Wilkinson,  \Mlliam. 

Woodsman,  Solomon. 

Works,  Isaac. 


APPENDIX  491 

FIRST  REGIMENT  INFANTRY 

Company  H 

Officers 

James   H.   Kerr,   2d.   Lt, ;   en.   August   23,    1861 ;   w. 

Ellyson's  Mill;  d.  August  6,  1863. 

Privates 
R.  R.  Crawford;  en.  May,   1861 ;  a.  21;  pr.   ist.  Lt. 
Company  D,  Forty-second  Regiment. 


SECOND  REGIMENT  INFANTRY 

Company  H 

Officers 

Alexander  Murdock,  3d.  Sgt. ;  en.  May  27,   1861 ;  a. 

30;  appointed  Ord.  Sgt.  May  14,  1862;  d. 


FOURTH  REGIMENT  INFANTRY 
Company  B 
Officers 
James  H.  Wood,  Capt. ;  en.  May  16,  1861 ;  a.  21 ;  pr. 
Major  July  22,  1862;  pr.  Lt.-Col.  May  19,   1864; 
pr.  Col.  July  18,  1864;  k.  at  Sniggers  Gap,  Novem- 
ber 23,  1864. 
Thomas   C.   Watson,    ist.   Lt. ;   en.   May    i,    1861 ;   a. 

22;  Com.  Capt.,  July  22,  1862;  w.  and  resigned. 
Jesse  F.  Stancill,  2d.  Lt. ;  en.  May  i,  1861 ;  a.  21;  pr. 

Capt.;  w.  November,  1864;  pr.  Major. 
J.  Fuller  Phifer,  ist.  Sgt.;  en.  June  12,  1861 ;  a.  19; 
reduced  to  ranks  at  his  own  request;  d.  Richmond, 
January  25,  1863. 


492  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

B.  Knox  Kerr,  2d.  Sgt. ;  en.  June  3,  1861 ;  a.  25;  d. 

March  26,  1862. 
M.  Stokes  McKenzie,  3d.  Sgt.;  en.  June  3,  1861 ;  a.  22; 

k.  May  31,  1862,  Seven  Pines. 
Joseph  Barber,  4th.  Sgt. ;  en.  June  3,  1861 ;  pr.  Jr.  2d. 

Lt,  February  25,  1863;  a.  26;  w.  (lost  right  arm), 

Chancellorsville. 
John  Hillard,  5th.  Sgt. ;  en.  June  3,  1861 ;  a.  24. 
Isaac  A.  Cowan,  ist.  Cor.;  en.  June  3,  1861 ;  a.  21 ;  pr. 

2d.  Lt.  November  15,  1862. 
William  H.  Burkhead,  2d.  Cor.;  en.  June  3,  1861. 
Benjamin  A.  Knox,  3d.  Cor.;  en.  June  24,   1861 ;  a. 

22;  pr.  Sgt.  April  25,  1862. 
D.  W.  Steele,  4th.  Cor.;  en.  June  3,  1861 ;  a.  20;  d. 

Richmond,  August  20,  1861. 

Privates 

Alexander,  J.  L. ;  en.  July,  1861 ;  w.  and  c.  at  Sharps- 
burg. 

Anderson,  Charles;  en.  June  3,  1861 ;  a.  19;  w.  June 
22,  1862;  d.  of  w.  July  15,  1862. 

Barber,  Edward  F. ;  en.  June  3,  1861 ;  a.  22;  pr.  ist. 
Sgt.  Alarch  I,  1863;  w.  Chancellorsville;  k.  May 
19,  1863. 

Barber,  James;  en.  June  3,  1861 ;  a.  25;  d.  in  SaHs- 
bury,  N.  C,  August  15,  1862. 

Barber,  John  Y. ;  en.  June  3,  1861 ;  a.  15;  tr.  Regi- 
mental Band,  September  15,  1861. 

Barber,  Robert  J.  M. ;  en.  June  3,  1861 ;  a.  28;  c.  in 
Maryland  September  10,  1862. 


APPENDIX  493 

Barber,  Thomas  D. ;  en.  June  3,  1861 ;  a.  22 ;  k.  Spott- 

sylvania  Courthouse,  May  12,  1863. 
Earnhardt,  J.  C. 
Barringer,  William  H. ;  en.  July  10,  1861  ;  a.  20;  d.  of 

d.,  at  Manassas,  September  19,  1861. 
Beaver,  A. 

Beaver,  Henry;  en.  March  3,  1862;  a.  53;  h.  d.  and  d. 
Baxter,   Hugh;  en.   June  3,   1861 ;  a.   22;   w.   Seven 

Pines;  d.  of  w.  July  6,  1862. 
Beaver,  J.  Martin;  en.  June  3,  1861 ;  a.  21 ;  h.  d. 
Beaver,  Joe. 
Beaver,  Joel;  en.  June  3,  1861 ;  a.  23 ;  d.  at  Richmond, 

July  21,  1862. 
Beaver,  John  D. ;  en.  June  3,  1861 ;  a.  20;  w.  Seven 

Pines;  d.  of  w.  June  15,  1862. 
Beaver,  Mike. 
Beaver,  W.  A. 

Belk,  George  S.;  en.  June  12,  1861 ;  a.  23;  d.  1864. 
Biggers,  W.   D. ;  en.   June   3,    1861 ;   a.   20;  pr.   Cor. 

September   20,    1862;   w.    Seven   Pines,   discharged 

for  w.  March  24,  1863. 
Brandon,  Calvin  J.;  en.  June  3,  1861 ;  a.  22;  k.  near 

Richmond,  June  2y,  1862. 
Briggs,  James;  en.  June  3,  1861 ;  a.  24;  k.  March  20, 

1862,  by  accident  on  Western  North  Carolina  Rail- 
road. 
Briggs,  Thomas;  en.  March  13,  1862;  a.  21;  d.  of  d. 
Burke,  James  P.;  en.  June  3,  1861 ;  a.  21;  w.  South 

Mountain,  September  14,  1862;  pr.  to  2d.  Lt. 
Chunn,  William;  en.  June  3,   1861  ;  a.   17;  w.  Seven 

Pines;  d.  of  w.  June  12,  1862. 


494  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

Cowan,  D.  Stokes;  en.  June  3,  1861 ;  a.  24;  lost  left 
arm  at  Winchester,  Va. ;  h.  d. 

Cowan,  James  F. ;  en.  June  3,  1861 ;  a.  18;  w.  Seven 
Pines,  lost  right  arm;  h.  d.  August  11,  1862. 

Cowan,  John  Y. ;  en.  June  3,  1861  ;  a.  18;  d.  December 
9,  1861,  at  Manassas  Junction. 

Cowan,  Nathan  N. ;  en.  June  3,  1861  ;  a.  19;  w.  Seven 
Pines. 

Cox,  Wiley  E. ;  en.  June  3,  1861 ;  a.  36;  w.  Seven 
Pines;  d.  of  w.  June  5,  1862. 

Current,  A.  J. ;  en.  June  24,  1861  ;  a.  26;  d.  Yorktown, 
Va.,  April  22,  1862. 

Dismukes,  Richmond  L. ;  en.  March  4,  1861 ;  a.  37; 
pr.  I  St.  Lt.  in  Company  G. ;  resigned. 

Donaho,  David. 

Donaho,  Frank. 

Donaho,  Newberry. 

Donnell,  J.  Irwin;  en.  June  3,  1861 ;  a.  18;  d.  Manas- 
sas Junction,   September  12,   1861. 

Douglas,  Adolphus  D. ;  en.  June  3,  1861  ;  a.  22\  d. 
Manassas  Junction,  September  12,  1861. 

Eller,  Edward;  en.  March  14,  1862;  a.  38;  d.  of  d., 
July  19,  1862,  at  Danville. 

Felker,  Alexander;  en.  June  3,  1861  ;  k.  Seven  Pines, 
May  31,  1862. 

Gantz,  Wiley;  en.  March  3,  1862;  a.  37. 

Gillespie,  Thomas  P.;  en.  June  14,  1861 ;  tr.  Regi- 
mental Band,  September  15,  1861. 

Graham,  Cam;  k. 

Graham,  Clay;  k. 

Graham,  R.  L. 


APPENDIX  495 

Gullet,  John. 

Hall,  Richard  J.;  en.  June  3,  1861 ;  d.  Lynchburg,  Va., 

May  26,  1862. 
Hall,  W.   W. 
Henry,  Elam  T. ;  en.  June  3,  1861 ;  h.  d.  for  accidental 

gunshot  w.  in  the  hand. 
Hilliard,  James  B. ;  en.  June  3,  1861  ;  a.  22;  w.  Seven 

Pines;  k.  at  Chancellorsville,  May  3,  1863. 
Hix,  Calvin  J. ;  en.  June  19,  1861 ;  a.  21 ;  pr.  Sgt.  July 

5,  1861 ;  k.  Seven  Pines,  May  31,  1862. 
Holdclaw,  James  H. ;   en.  June   14,   1861 ;  a.   37;   w. 

Seven  Pines;  det.  as  nurse  at  Richmond. 
Hughes,  James  C. ;  en.  June  3,  1861 ;  a.  20;  d.  at  home, 

August  18,  1 86 1. 
Hughey,  T.  A. ;  k.  Chancellorsville. 
Hyde,  James  C. ;  en.  June  10,  1861 ;  a.  20. 
Jordan,  Thomas;  en.  June  3,   1861 ;  a.  31;  pr.   Cor. 

April  26,  1862;  k.  Seven  Pines,  May  31,  1862. 
Kistler,  John  W. ;  en.  June  3,  1861 ;  a.  23 ;  w.  Seven 

Pines;  w.  South  Mountain. 
Kistler,  Joseph  B. ;  en.  June  3,   1861 ;  a.  25;  det.  as 

prison  guard;  k.   1864. 
Lipe,  David. 
Leazer,  John;  en.   March  3,   1862;  a.    18;   w.   Seven 

Pines. 
Louder,  Daniel  M;  en.  June  3,  1861 ;  a.  29;  d.  Camp 

Pickens,  Va.,  October  6,  1861. 
Lyerly,  Thomas  S. ;  en.  June  14,  1861 ;  a.  20;  w.  at 

Gettysburg. 
McCormick,  E.  Laf. ;  en.  June  11,   1861 ;  a.  2"/;  det. 

as  brigade  blacksmith,  August  12,  1862. 


496  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN   COUNTY 

McCormick,  Hiram  S. ;  en.  June  19,  1861 ;  a.  22;  det. 

as  Regiment  teamster. 
McKenzie,  W.  White;  en.  June  3,   1861 ;  a.  24;  det. 

hospital  steward,  August,  1861 ;  d.  July  10,  1862. 
McLaughlin,  Silas  M.;  en.  June  12,  1861 ;  a.  29;  h.  d. 

for  disease. 
Meniss,   George  W. ;   en.  June    lo^    1861 ;   a.   23;   w. 

Seven  Pines,  June  27,  1862. 
Miller,  Henry  C. ;  en.  June  3,   1861 ;  a.  20;  pr.  Cor. 

November  4,  1862;  pr.  Ord.  Sgt. ;  w.  Chancellors- 

ville. 
Mills,  R.  A. ;  en.  June  3,  1861. 
Moore,  David  C. ;  en.  June  10,  1861 ;  a.  19;  w.  Hagers- 

town ;  d. 
Moore,  William  A.;  en.  June  3,  1861 ;  a.  24;  w.  Seven 

Pines;  w.  Hagerstown;  d. 
Niblock,  Frank  K. ;  k.  Seven  Pines. 
Pachell,  Joseph;  en.  March  3,  1862;  a.  18;  d.  of  d., 

July  5,  1862,  in  Richmond. 
Pinkston,  Thomas;  en.  June  3,  1861 ;  a.  19;  k.  Seven 

Pines,  May  31,  1862. 
Plumer,   William    F. ;    en.    June   3,    1861 ;   a.    20;   w. 

Seven  Pines;  d.  Richmond,  December,  1862. 
Rice,  Allen  G. ;  en.  June  1861 ;  a.  23 ;  d.  at  camp  near 

Bull  Run,  September  23,  1861. 
Safret,  Charles;  en.  March  11,  1862;  a.  24;  d.  June 

2y,  1862,  at  camp  hospital. 
Safret,  Peter;  en.  March   15,   1862;  a.  22;  w.  South 

Mountain,  September   14,   1862;  left  on  field;  sent 

as  nurse  to  Wilmington. 
Safret,  Powel;  d. 


APPENDIX  497 

Sears,  John  W. ;  en.  June  12,  1861 ;  a.  28. 

Shinn,  J.  W. ;  en.  June  12,  1861 ;  a.  30;  pr.  ist.-Sgt. 

1862;  d.  of  d.,  at  home. 
Sides,  John  M. ;  en.  June  3,  1861;  a.  26. 
Smith,  Jef. 

Stikeleather,  M.  W. ;  en.  March  11,  1862;  a.  27. 
Webb,  Abner;  k.  Seven  Pines. 
Wilhelm,  Jacob ;  k. 


Company  K  (Rowan  Rifle  Guards) 


ENTERED     SERVICE    APRIL     IQ,     1861.      REORGANIZED    AS 

COMPANY   K,   FOURTH    REGIMENT   INFANTRY, 

MAY   30,    1 86 1 

Officers 

Francis  M.  Y.  McNeely,  Capt.;  en.  May  30,  1861 ; 
resigned  May  31,  1862. 

W.  C.  Coughenour,  ist.  Lt. ;  en.  May  30,  1861 ;  a.  25; 
pr.  Capt.  May  31,  1862;  w.  Seven  Pines;  appointed 
Inspector-General  of  Ramseur's  Brigade,  August, 
1863;  w.  April  4,  1864,  Amelia  Courthouse. 

Marcus  Hoffin,  2d.  Lt. ;  en.  May  30,  1861 ;  pr.  ist.  Lt. 
May  31,  1862;  pr.  Capt.  August,  1863;  appointed 
Capt.  Com.  Dept.  1864;  w.  Seven  Pines. 

WilHams  Brown,  Jr.  Lt. ;  en.  May  30,  1861 ;  resigned 
November,  1861. 

Addison  N.  Wiseman,  ist.  Sgt. ;  en.  May  30,  1861 ;  a. 
24;  pr.  2d.  Lt.  1862;  w.  December  14,  1862;  pr.  ist. 


498  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

Lt.  1863;  w.  Chancellorsville,  May  3,  1863;  k.  Win- 
chester, September  19,  1864. 
Wilbum  C.  Fraley,  3d.  Sgt. ;  en.  May  30,  1861 ;  a.  21 ; 

pr.  ist.  Sgt.  1862;  w.  September  19,  1864. 
Moses  L.  Bean,  4th.  Sgt.;  en.  May  30,   1861 ;  a.  20; 

pr.  1st.  Sgt.  1862;  pr.  2d.  Lt.  April  i,  1863;  pr.  ist. 

Lt.  September  19,  1864;  pr.  Capt.  February,  1865; 

w.  May  12,  1864. 
James  Bowers,  ist.  Cor.;  en.  May  30,  1861 ;  a.  21;  k. 

Seven  Pines  May  31,  1862,  with  Regimental  Colors 

in  his  hands. 
John  F.  Kenter,  2d.  Cor.;  en.  May  30,  1861 ;  a.  23 ;  pr. 

Q.-M.  Sgt.  November,  1861 ;  c.  Petersburg,  Va. 
John  L.  Lyerly,  3d.  Cor.;  en.  May  30,  1861 ;  a.  2y ; 

transferred. 
James  Crawford,  4th.  Cor.;  en.  May  30,  1861 ;  a.  2;^; 

elected  3d.  Lt.  Company  B,  Forty-second  Regiment. 

Privates 

Baity,  Robt.  A.;  en.  May  30,  1861 ;  a  22;  w.  Chancel- 
lorsville,; d.  of  w.  May  3,  1863. 

Barger,  Paul;  en.  May  30,  1861 ;  a.  19;  k.  June  27, 
1862,  Cold  Harbor,  Va. 

Barringer,  John  W. ;  en.  May  30,  1861 ;  a.  19;  d.  in 
camp,  Manassas,  Va. 

Bassinger,  G.  H.;  en.  September  7,  1862;  a.  19;  c. 
Sharpsburg;  w.  Spottsylvania. 

Bean,  J.  W. ;  en.  April  12,  1863;  a.  39;  w.  Spott- 
sylvania, Va. 


APPENDIX  499 

Beaver,  Alichael;  en.  January  12,  1861 ;  a.  21;  w. 
Fredericksburg,  December  14,  1862. 

Bencini,  M.  A. ;  c.  September  19,  1864,  Winchester, 
Va. 

Blackner,  Elon  G. ;  appointed  2d.  Lt.  Company  F, 
Seventh  Regiment. 

Bogle,  David. 

Brown,  Peter  A.;  en.  January  14,  1861 ;  a.  24;  w. 
Seven  Pines ;  pr.  Cor. 

Brown,  Stephen  A. ;  k.  Cold  Harbor. 

Bryant,  Lindsay;  en.  May  30,  1861 ;  a.  20. 

Buis,  W.  A,;  en.  January  14,  1861 ;  a.  28;  c. 

Carter,  x^lfred  C. ;  en.  May  30,  1861 ;  a.  21;  w.  June 
2y,  1862,  Cold  Harbor;  w.  Chancellorsville,  May 
3,  1863. 

Carter,  E.  F.  M. ;  en.  September  9,  1862;  a.  30;  c. 
Sharpsburg;  k.  Chancellorsville,  May  3,  1863. 

Casper,  Ambrose;  en.  March  9,  1862;  a.  20;  c.  Sharps- 
burg; c.  near  Richmond. 

Casper,  James  C. ;  en.  January  29,  1861 ;  a.  26;  c.  near 
Spottsylvania  Courthouse,  Va. 

Caster,  Henry  M. ;  en.  July  3,  1861 ,  a.  26;  k.  Win- 
chester, Va. 

Castor,  John;  en.  March  16,  1862;  a.  38;  c.  Sharps- 
burg. 

Cauble,  George  A.;  en.  June  25,  1861 ;  a.  22;  k.  June 
2y,  1862,  Cold  Harbor,  Va. 

Church,  N.  N. ;  en.  September,  1861 ;  a.  30;  d.  in 
hospital. 

Colley,  Leroy  C. ;  en.  ^lay  30,  1861 ;  a.  22 ;  k.  Septem- 
ber,  1862,  Sharpsburg,  Md. 


500  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

Crawford,  William  H. ;  appointed   ist.  Lt.   Company 

F,  Seventh  Regiment. 
Crooks,  Henry  W. ;  en.   May  30,   1861 ;  a.  23;  d.  in 

camp  1 86 1. 
Crowel,  John  T. ;  en.   September  8,   1862;  a.   20;  k. 

Seven  Pines. 
Crowel,  R.  E. ;  en.  April  13,  1863;  a.  23;  w.  Spott- 

sylvania,  Va. 
Cummings,  William  W. ;  en.  May  30,  1861 ;  a.  19;  k. 

at  Seven  Pines. 
Davis,   L.   M. ;   appointed   Lt.   in   Company   K,   Fifth 

Regiment. 
Deaton,  John  C;  en.  May  30,  1861 ;  a.  22;  w.  Seven 

Pines. 
Durell,  W'ilHam  M.;  en.  ]\Iay  30,  1861 ;  a.  18;  w.  May 

12,  1864,  at  Spottsylvania  Courthouse. 
Eddleman,  J.  A. ;  en.  March  15,  1862 ;  a.  23 ;  c.  Sharps- 
burg,  Md. ;  c.  Fisher  Hill,  Va. 
Eddleman,  Jacob  A. ;   en.   May  30,    1861 ;   a.   25 ;  k. 

Seven  Pines. 
Eller,  Nelson  A.;  en.  May  30,  1861 ;  a.  19;  w.  Seven 

Pines;  c.  at  Chancellorsville. 
Eudie,  John  J.;  en.  June  26,  1861 ;  a.  22;  tr.  to  light 

duty  1863 ;  c. 
Fraley,  Jacob  L. ;  en.  May  30,  1861 ;  a.  30;  k.  Spott- 
sylvania Courthouse,  May  12,  1864. 
Fraley,  Jesse  R. ;  en.  September,  1862 ;  a.  25  ;  appointed 

Assistant  Surgeon,  April,  1863. 
Freidheim,   Arnold;    en.    June    15,    1861 ;    a.    23;   w. 

Seven  Pines ;  pr.  Cor. 


APPENDIX  501 

Fulk,    Edward;    en.    March    15,    1862;    a.    25;    d.    in 

hospital. 
Gardner,  Frank  S. ;  d.  in  hospital. 
Glover,  Jeremiah;  en.  June  29,  1861 ;  a.  18. 
Glover,    William   H. ;   en.   June   26,    1861 ;   a.   25;   k. 

Sharpsburg,  Md. 
Gorman,  W.  R. ;  tr.  to  Regimental  Band ;  d.  at  home. 
Heilig,   Philip   A.;  en.   January  30,    1861 ;   a.    19;  w. 

Seven  Pines;  k.  Spottsylvania  Courthouse. 
Heirn,  David;  en.  May  4,  1861 ;  a.  30;  d.  Manassas. 
Henderson,    C.   A. ;   appointed   Assistant   Surgeon   in 

Sixth  Regiment. 
Henderson,  Leonard;  appointed  ist.  Lt.  Company  F, 

Eighth  Regiment. 
Hendricks,  James   L. ;   en.   May  30,    1861 ;   a.   22;   d. 

Manassas. 
Holdhouser,  Crawford;  c.  Sharpsburg,  Md. 
Holdhouser,  Lewis  D. ;  en.  March  7,  1862;  a.  21;  w. 

Seven  Pines;  w.  May  3,  1863,  Chancellorsville. 
Holdhouser,  Milas  M.;  en.  June  29,   1861 ;  a.  21;  c. 

Sharpsburg. 
Holdhouser,  Otho;  en.  May  30,   i86[;  a.  25;  pr.  to 

Sgt. ;  w.  Seven  Pines;  k.  Spottsylvania. 
Horah,  George;  en.  May  30,  1861 ;  a.  20;  appointed 

Lt.  in  Forty-sixth  Regiment. 
Huff,  William  H. ;  en.   May  30,   1861 ;   a.   24;  tr.  to 

Riley's  Battery. 
Hunt,   M.   F. ;  appointed  2d.   Lt.   Company   E,   Fifth 

Regiment. 
Hyer,  Charles;  en.  July  4,  1861 ;  a.  25;  in  Regimental 

Band. 


502  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN   COUNTY 

Irwin,   Joseph   C. ;   May   30,    1861 ;   a.   23 ;   appointed 

Lt.  Fifth  Regiment;  w.  Sharpsburg,  Md. 
Johnston,   Daniel   C. ;   en.    May   30^    1861 ;   a.    20;   k. 

Seven  Pines. 
Jones,  Charles  R. ;  en.  ]\Iay  30,  1861 ;  a.  20;  appointed 

Lt.  in  Fifty-fifth  Regiment. 
Jones,    Hamilton    C. ;    appointed    Capt.    Company   K, 

Fifth  Regiment. 
Josey,  Wallace;  en.  Alarch  29,  1862;  a.  20;  w.  June  3, 

1864,  near  Richmond;  d.  of  w. 
Josey,  Wilson  R. ;  en.  May  30,  1861 ;  a.  18;  k.  Chancel- 

lorsville,   May  3,    1862. 
Kelly,  Joseph;  en.  April  12,  1863;  a.  35. 
Kerr,  James  H. ;  appointed  Lt.  in  First  Regiment. 
Kyle,  Robert  G. ;  en.  May  30,,  1861 ;  a.  18;  pr.  Cor. ;  k. 

Seven  Pines. 
Landcherry,   R. ;   en.   March    12,    1862;   a.   30;   d.    in 

hospital. 
Lanier,  Benjamin;  en.  ]\Iay  30,  1861 ;  a.  18;  k.  Seven 

Pines. 
Lilly,  W.  T. ;  en.  ^lay  30,  1861 ;  a.  18;  discharged  on 

account  of  ill  health. 
Lillycrop,  William;  en.  October   14,   1861 ;  a.  24;  w. 

Mechanicsville,  Va. 
Locket,   John   B. ;   en.    I\Iay  30,    1861 ;   a.   24;   tr.   to 

general   hospital,   as  nurse. 
Long,  Hamilton  C. ;  en.  May  30,  1861 ;  a.  25 ;  pr.  2d. 

Lt.  November,   1861 ;  w.   Seven  Pines ;  resigned. 
Lowrence,  Alfred  A.;   en.   May  30,   1861 ;   a.   18;  k. 

Seven  Pines. 


APPENDIX  503 

McCanless,  James  C. ;  en.  June  29,   1861 ;  w.   seven 

days'  fight  at  Richmond. 
McDaniel,  J.  A.;  en.  September  22,  1861 ;  a.  20;  k. 

Sharpsburg,  Md. 
McQueen,   A.    M.;   en.   March   20,    1862;   a.   2y  \   w. 

Seven  Pines  May  31,  1862;  w.  December  14,  1862, 

at  Fredericksburg;  d.  of  w. 
McQueen,  Daniel  M. ;  en.  March  21,  1862;  a.  32;  w. 

September  14,  1862 ;  d.  of  w. 
McQueen,    WiUiam;    en.    May   30,    1861 ;   a.    24;    c. 

Petersburg,  Va. 
Mahaly,  Lewis;  en  May  30,  1861 ;  a.  27;  w.  Chancel- 

lorsville.  May  3,  1863;  d.  of  w. 
Matthews,  Bradley;  en.  July  14,   1862;  a.  24;  Musi- 
cian; w. 
Mauldin,  James;  en.  March  9,  1862;  a.  18;  w.  Seven 

Pines;  d.  of  w.  August  10,  1863. 
Mauney,  John;  en.  June  14,  1861 ;  a.  34;  d.  in  camp. 
Meisenheimer,  George;  c.  Sharpsburg,  Md. 
Miller,  Alfred  W. ;  en.  July  3,  1861 ;  a.  22;  w.  Septem- 
ber 14,  1862;  d.  of  w. 
Miller,  Calvin  L. ;  en.  July  3,  1861 ;  a.  22-,  k.  May  3, 

1863,  Chancellorsville. 
Mills,  Francis  M.;  en.  May  30,  1861 ;  a.  17;  w.  Seven 

Pines. 
Mitchell,  Lueco;  appointed  Lt.  in  Riley's  Battery. 
Moose,  W.  A.;  en.  May  30,  1861 ;  a.  26;  tr.  to  Band; 

d.  in  hospital. 
Morris,  William;  en.  May  30,   1861 ;  a.  2(y\  w.  Cold 

Harbor,  June  2"],  1863;  d.  of  w. 
Mowery,  Andrew;  en.  May  30,  1861 ;  a  24. 


504  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

Mowery,  William  G. ;  en.  May  30,  1861 ;  a.  28;  d.  in 

hospital. 
Meyer,  Daniel;  en.  May  30,   1861 ;  a.   25;  w.   Seven 

Pines. 
Murr,  William;  en.  June  22,  1861 ;  a.  22;  w.  Septem- 
ber 19,  1864,  Winchester,  Va. 
Neave,  Edward  B.;  en.  May  30,  1861 ;  a.  20;  Leader 

Regimental  Band. 
Neely,  James  W. ;  en.  May  30,  1861 ;  a.  20;  w.  Seven 

Pines ;  discharged  on  account  of  wounds. 
O'Neal,  Isaac  P. ;  en.  May  30,  1861 ;  a.  25 ;  c.  Septem- 
ber 16,  1862,  Sharpsburg. 
Owens,   J.   T. ;   en.   July  20,    1863;   a.   36;   k.    Spott- 

sylvania,  Va. 
Parker,  William;  en.  May  30,  1861 ;  a.  18;  pr.  Cor.; 

w.  Seven  Pines ;  w.  Chancellorsville ;  c.  Sharpsburg, 

Md. 
Patterson,    Edward;    en.    May   30,    1861 ;    a.    28;    w. 

Sharpsburg;  w.  May  19,  1864;  tr.  to  Navy. 
Pearson,  EH. 
Peden,  John  T. ;  en.  May  30,  1861 ;  a.  21;  pr.  Lt.  in 

Fifty-fifth  Regiment. 
Peeler,  W.  D.  C. ;  en.  March  7,  1862;  a.  22;  w.  Seven 

Pines ;  c.   Sharpsburg,  Md. 
Pendleton,    Ham   Jones;   pr.    5th.    Sgt.    Company   F, 

Seventh  Regiment. 
Ploughman,  Solomon;  en.  May  30,  1861 ;  a.  27;  k. 
Rendleman,   Lawson   M.;  en.   May  30,   1861  ;   a.   20; 

k.  Seven  Pines. 
Roberts,  Alfred  H. ;  en.  May  30,  1861 ;  a.  21 ;  w.  near 

Charlestown,  1864. 


APPENDIX  505 

Roberts,    James   W. ;    en.    May    30,    1861 ;    w.    Seven 

Pines;  tr.  to  light  duty. 
Roberts,  R.  S. ;  discharged  on  account  of  ill  health. 
Rowzee,  Allison  H. ;  d.  in  camp,  1861. 
Sanders,  J.  B. ;  en.  April  i,  1863;  a.  21. 
Smithdeal,   AA^ilHam;   en.   May  30,   1861 ;   a.   19;   dis- 
charged on  account  of  w.  Seven  Pines. 
Snuggs,   George   D. ;   en.    May   30,    1861 ;   a.    25 ;   w. 

Seven   Pines;   w.    Chancellorsville ;   c.    Sharpsburg; 

w.  Snickers'  Ford,  July  21,  1864. 
Snuggs,  John;  c.  April  6,  1865. 
Severs,  Henry  C. ;  en.  May  30,  1861 ;  a.  19;  w.  Seven 

Pines;  c.  1863,  Sharpsburg,  Md. 
Strayhorn,  Samuel;  en.  May  30,  1861 ;  a.  21 ;  k.  Seven 

Pines. 
Thompson,   John   F. ;   en.   May   30,    1861 ;   a.    19;   w. 

Cold  Harbor,  June  2"],  1862,  as  Courier. 
Thompson,  Joseph  F;  en.  May  30,   1861 ;  a.  27;  w. 

December  14,  1862,  Fredericksburg;  d.  of  w. 
Thompson,  N.  A.;  en.  June   19,   1861 ;  a.   18;  d.  in 

camp. 
Trexler,  Hiram  A. ;  en.  May  30,  1861 ;  a.  25 ;  d.  Man- 
assas. 
Troutman,  M.  B. ;  en.  March  16,  1862;  a.  27;  w.  May 

3,  1863,  Chancellorsville. 
Turner,    J.    McLeod;    appointed    Capt.    Company    F, 

Seventh  Regiment. 
Turner,  Levi ;  en.   March  7,   1862 ;  a.  21 ;  w.   Seven 

Pines ;  w.  Spottsylvania. 
Weant,   Matthew   J.;   en.   May   30,    1861 ;   a.   2i\   w. 

Seven  Pines ;  tr.  to  Regimental  Band. 


5o6  HISTORY  OF   ROWAX   COUNTY 

Weant,  William  A.;  en.  May  30,  1861 ;  a.  20;  dis- 
charged on  account  of  ill  health. 

Williams,  Henry;  en.  September  21,  1862;  a.  24. 

Williams,  Richard;  en.  ]\Iay  30,  1861  ;  a.  24;  pr.  to 
Cor. ;  w.  Seven  Pines. 

Williamson,  Thomas  G. ;  appointed  2d.  Lt.  Company 
F,  Seventh  Regiment. 

Winter,  George  S. ;  en.  January  16,  1861 ;  a  18;  k. 
Seven  Pines. 

Wise,  Henry;  en.  March  9,  1862;  a.  35;  w.  Seven 
Pines;  d.  of  w. 

Wise,  Tobias;  en.  March  9,  1862;  a.  40;  w.  May  3, 
1863,  Chancellorsville ;  d.  of  w. 


FIFTH  REGIMENT  INFANTRY 

Company  E 

Officers 

Samuel    Reeves,    Capt. ;    en.    May    16,    1861 ;    a.    38; 

resigned  March  8,  1862. 
Robert  Hendry,  ist.  Lt. ;  en.  May  16,  1861 ;  a.  32. 
M.  F.  Hunt,  2d.  Lt. ;  en.  May  16,  1861 ;  a.  21 ;  w. 
Fred  H.  Sprague,  Jr.  2d.  Lt. ;  en.  May  16,  1861 ;  a.  25. 
Jonathan  Graham,  ist.  Sgt. ;  en.  June  6,  1861 ;  a.  30; 
'  d.  of  w.  at  Williamsburg,  Va.,  May  8,  1862. 
John  T.  Rodman,  2d.  Sgt. ;  en.  June  4,  1861 ;  a  18. 
C.  L.  Reeves,  3d.  Sgt. ;  en.  July  3,  1861 ;  a.  35 ;  h.  d. 
David  Morgan,  4th.  Sgt. ;  en.  June  28,  1861 ;  a.  22 ;  pr. 

to  2d.  Sgt.,  May  5,  1862. 
James  Hendry,  ist.  Cor.;  en.  July  i,  1861 ;  a.  28;  w.  at 
Williamsburg;  h.  d. 


APPENDIX  507 

John  R.  Hunter,  2d.  Cor.;  en.  July  i,  1861 ;  a.  43. 
Jere  M.  Miller,  3d.  Cor.;  en.  June  29,  1861 ;  a.  22;  w. 

Seven  Pines;  k.  at  Gettysburg,  Pa.,  July  i,  1863. 
Daniel  Basinger,  4th.  Cor.;  en.  June  14,  1861 ;  a.  22; 

w.  at  Gettysburg,  Pa. 

Privates 

Baines,  Levi;  en.  July  8,  1861 ;  a.  22;  pr.  Sgt. ;  w.  at 

Cold  Harbor;  w.  at  Chancellorsville. 
Barrett,  J.  G. ;  en.  June  18,  1861 ;  a.  18;  pr.  5th.  Sgt., 

August  31,  1863. 
Basinger,  Emanuel;  en.  June   19,   1861 ;  a.  21;  w.  at 

Wilderness  and  at  Gettysburg. 
Basinger,   Henry;   en.   June    15,    1861 ;   a.   44;   w.   at 

Wilderness  and  Gettysburg. 
Basinger,  James  J. ;  en.  July  6,  1861  ;  a.  25. 
Basinger,  John;  en.  July  i,  1861 ;  a.  31. 
Basinger,  William  A.;  en.  June  29,  1861 ;  a.  2y;  k.  at 

Williamsburg,  Va.,  May  5,  1862. 
Beaver,  Daniel;  en.  June  29,  1861 ;  a.  30. 
Beaver,   Monroe;   en.   June  29,    1861 ;   a.    2y ;   w.   at 

Wilderness. 
Beek,  William;  en.  June  11,  1861 ;  a.  21. 
Bond,   William   J.;   en.   June    i,    1861 ;   a.   23;   w.   at 

Gettysburg;  pr.  to  3d.  Sgt.  August  31,  1863. 
Boyle,  John;  en.  June  5,  1861 ;  a.  18. 
Brown,  Adam;  en.  June  g,  1861 ;  a.  30. 
Brown,  Henry  M. ;  en.  July  3,  1861 ;  a.  20;  w.  at  Wil- 
liamsburg, Va. 
Bryant,  John  J.;  en.  July   15,   1862;  a.  22;  d.  of  d. 

November  16,  1862. 


508  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

Carr,  William  A.;  en.  April  23,  1861 ;  a.  18;  pr.  to  2d. 
Lt.  from  Company  A,  Third  Regiment,  April  13, 
1863. 

Clodfelter,  D.  E. ;  en.  June  29,  1861  ;  a.  21 ;  w.  at  Wil- 
liamsburg. 

Clodfelter,  William  C. ;  en.  July  i,  1861  ;  a.  26;  d.  of 
d.  January,  1862. 

Clutts,  Jere;  en.  July  3,  1861 ;  a.  22. 

Cruse,  Munroe;  en.  June  11,  1861 ;  a.  25;  w.  at 
Chancellorsville ;  pr.  Cor.,  April  30,   1863. 

Cunningham,  Pat;  en.  June  5,  1861 ;  a.  18;  d.  of  w.  at 
Gettysburg,  July  5,  1863. 

Dickens,  Thomas;  en.  July  2,  1861 ;  a.  31. 

Duckworth,  J.  W. ;  en.  July  4,  1861 ;  a.  23. 

Duke,  George;  en.  June  11,  1861 ;  a.  18. 

Earnhardt,  Levi  T. ;  en.  July  6,  1861 ;  a.  18. 

Ellar,  W^illiam ;  en.  July  4,  1861  ;  a.  24. 

Fight,  Samuel  J.;  en.  June  28,  1861  ;  a.  20. 

File,  Ivy  W. ;  en.  June  19,  1861 ;  a.  22. 

Gillespie,  John;  en.  June  5,  1861 ;  a.  22;  w.  at  Wil- 
liamsburg. 

Hadley,  R. ;  en.  September  i,  1861 ;  a.  22. 

Hargaty,  Pat;  en.  June  15,  1861 ;  a.  20;  k.  at  Wil- 
liamsburg, May  5,  1862. 

Hartman,  Jacob  A.;  en.  June  29,  1861 ;  a.  19. 

Hewitt,  D.  H.;  d.  of  w.  at  Gettysburg,  July,  1863. 

Johnson,  Calvin;  en.  July  2,  1861 ;  a.  30. 

Johnson,  Green;  en.  July  8,  1861 ;  a.  18. 

Kelly,  John;  en.  June  17,  1861 ;  a.  31;  d.  of  d.,  May 
5,  1863. 


APPENDIX  509 

Kennedy,  George  A. ;  en.  July  25,  1861 ;  a.  40. 

Kinney,  M.  L. ;  en.  June  8,  1861 ;  a.  23. 

Lane,  David;  en.  July  4,  1861 ;  a.  19. 

Lanier,  Israel;  en.  June  17,  1861 ;  a.  23;  k.  at  Chan- 
cellorsville,  May,  1863. 

Long,  G.  W. ;  en.  June  19,  1861 ;  a.  20;  pr.  Cor.  Au- 
gust 31,  1863;  w.  at  Gettysburg. 

McGuire,  Mike;  en.  June  5,  1861 ;  a.  22. 

McNeelis,  Condie;  en.  June  5,  1861 ;  a.  28. 

Mauldin,  James;  en.  June  22,  1861 ;  a.  18. 

Medly,   William  A.;   en.   July  4,   1861 ;  a.   27;   d.   of 
d.  August,  1861. 

Miller,  Calvin;  en.  June  6,  1861 ;  a  25. 

Miller,  D.  L. ;  en.  July  6,  1861 ;  a.  21 ;  d.  of  d.,  1862. 

Mills,  William;  en.  July  i,  1861 ;  a.  31 ;  d.  of  d.,  April, 
1862. 

Morris,  Richland;  en.  September  i,  1861  ;  a.  26;  k.  at 
Williamsburg,  May  5,  1862. 

Murdy,  John;  en.  June  5,  1861 ;  a.  20;  w.  at  Williams- 
burg. 

Newson,  C.  C. ;  en.  August   19,   1861 ;  a.   19;  w.   at 
Williamsburg  and  Chancellorsville. 

O'Donnel,  Francis;  en.  June  15,  1861 ;  a.  18. 

Parker,  John;  en.  July  i,  1861 ;  a.  24;  d.  of  d.,  1862. 

Parker,  WilHam  L. ;  en.  July  i,  1861 ;  a.  18. 

Parks,  James  O. ;  en.  July  i,  1861 ;  a.  24. 
Parks,  Jesse  A.;  en  July  20,  1861 ;  a.  24;  w.  at  Wil- 
liamsburg and  Chancellorsville. 
Parnell,  Frank;  en.  June  24,  1861 ;  a.  22. 
Patten,  A.  W. ;  en.  July  15,  1862;  a.  22;  missing  at 
Sharpsburg. 


510  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

Peacock,  William  L.  C. ;  en.  June  19,  1861 ;  a.  22. 

Pence,  Jake;  en.  July  4,  1861 ;  a.  44. 

Porter,  James  H.;  en.  June  29,   1861 ;  a.  32. 

Rawlins,  B. ;  en.  July  4,  1861 ;  a.  43 ;  w.  at  Seven 
Pines. 

Riggsbey,  C.  C. ;  en.  July  15,  1862;  a.  29. 

Riggsbey,  William  H. ;  en.  July  15,  1862;  a.  25. 

Robinson,  J.  M. ;  en.  July  4,  1861 ;  d.  at  Bull  Run, 
July  25,    1862. 

Rufty,  G.  W.;  en.  June  13,  1861 ;  a.  18. 

Scott,  John;  en.  July  4,  1861 ;  a.  37;  pr.  to  Cor.,  Octo- 
ber 31,  1862;  w.  at  Gettysburg. 

Singleton,  J.  V. ;  en.  July  4,  1861 ;  a.  29. 

Sloop,  Joel  G. ;  en.  July  4,  1861 ;  a.  19;  w.  at  Williams- 
burg. 

Steel,  William;  en.  July  4,  1861 ;  a.  37;  pr.  to  3d.  Sgt., 
October  31,  1862;  k.  at  Gettysburg,  July,  1863. 

Stoup,  Thomas;  en.  July  4,  1861 ;  a.  18;  d.  of  d.,  1861. 

Waller,  George;  en.  June  11,  186 1 ;  a.  20;  k.  at  Gettys- 
burg, July  I,  1863. 

West,  R.  C.;  en.  April  23,  1861 ;  a.  18;  pr.  to  2d.  Lt. 
from  Company  A,  Third  Regiment,  April  13,  1863. 

West,  S.  B.;  en.  j\Iay  16,  1861 ;  a.  26;  pr.  Capt. 

Wilheim,  Jesse;  en.  June  28,  1861 ;  a.  30. 


Company  K 

Officers 

Hamilton  C.  Jones,  Capt.;  en.  May  16,  1861 ;  a.  24; 

pr.  to  Lt.-Col.  Fifty-seventh  Regiment. 
J.  A'l.  Jones,  ist.  Lt. ;  en.  May  16,  1861 ;  a.  2y. 


APPENDIX  511 

L.  IM.  Davis,  2d.  Lt. ;  en.  May  16,  1861  ;  a.  22;  pr.  to 

Capt. 
Joseph  C.  Irwin,  2d.  Lt. ;  en  June  22.,  1861 ;  a.  23. 
Caesar  Guttenberg,  ist.  Sgt. ;  en.  April  29,  186 1 ;  a.  33 ; 

w.   Chancellorsville. 
William  T.  Fesperman,  2d.  Sgt.;  en.  June  13,   1861 ; 

a.  25 ;  pr.  to  2d.  Lt. 
Paul  Barringer,  3d.  Sgt.;  en.  July  4,  1861 ;  a.  29;  pr. 

to  ist.  Sgt.  January  i,  1863. 
George  Miller,  ist.  Cor. ;  en  June  25,  1861 ;  a.  22. 
George  Heilig,  2d.  Cor.;  en.  June  5,  1861 ;  a.  25;  pr. 

to  2d.  Lt.  for  gallantry. 
Calvin  Phillips,  3d.  Cor.;  en.  July  i,  1861 ;  a.  22;  d. 

Richmond,  April,  1862. 
Frankhn  D.  Julian,  Musician;  en.  July  i,  1861 ;  a.  16. 

Privates 

Allen,  Jasper;  en.  July  16,  1861 ;  a.  18;  k.  Gettysburg, 

July,  1863. 
Atkinson,  J.  H. ;  en.  July  30,  1861 ;  a.  34. 
Basinger,  John  A.;  en.  August  8,  1862. 
Beaver,  David;  en.  July  i,  1861 ;  a.  35. 
Beaver,  David;  en.  August  8,  1862. 
Beaver,  E.  M. ;  en.  August  8,  1862 ;  a.  31. 
Beaver,  H.  M.;  en.  August  8,  1862;  a.  28;  d.  of  d.,  at 

Strasburg,  Va.,  November  11,  1862. 
Beaver,   Jeremiah;    en.    August   8,    1862;    a.   2J \    w. 

Chancellorsville;  d.  at  home,  August  7,  1863. 
Beaver,  Joseph;  en.  August  8,  1862;  a.  30. 
Beaver,  L.  A.;  en.  August  8,  1862;  a.  23. 
Beaver,  Rufus;  en.  August  8,  1862;  a.  20. 


512  HISTORY   OF  ROWAN   COUNTY 

Beaver,  Simeon;  en.  August  8,  1862;  a.  33;  d.  near 
Charlestown,  W.  Va.,  on  march. 

Best,  Allison ;  en.  August  8,  1862 ;  a.  19. 

Bost,  G.  M.;  en.  August  8,  1862;  a.  24;  d.  November 
29,  1863^  near  Gordonville. 

Bostian,  Aaron;  en.  August  8,  1862;  a.  28;  k.  July  i, 
1863,  Gettysburg. 

Bostian,  A.  J.;  en.  August  8,  1862;  a.  31. 

Bostian,  Andrew;  en.  August  8,  1862;  a.  34. 

Bostian,  Eli;  en.  August  8,  1862;  a.  32. 

Bostian,  William;  en.  August  8,  1862;  a.  24. 

Bradshaw,  Francis;  en.  February  25,  1861 ;  pr.  to  Cor. 
for  meritorious  conduct. 

Bray,  J.  F. ;  en.  July  15,  1861 ;  fell  out  of  ranks,  Au- 
gust, 1862,  and  never  heard  from. 

Brewer,  Elijah;  en.  July  15,  1862;  w.  at  Gettysburg. 

Bringle,  L.  D. ;  en.  July  i,  1861 ;  a.  18;  w.  Gettysburg. 

Brown,  Charles;  en.  June  12,  1861 ;  a.  30. 

Butler,  Martin;  en.  July  12,  1861 ;  a.  25;  k.  Williams- 
burg, May' 5,  1862. 

Carver,  Kyle;  en.  August  22,  1861. 

Cash,  A.  G.;  en.  August  8,  1862. 

Gates,  Calvin;  en.  July  6,  1861 ;  a.  36;  d.  Richmond. 

Cauble,  Pleasant;  en.  June  27,  1861 ;  a.  21 ;  pr.  to  Cor. 
February,  1862. 

Coan,  R.  H. ;  en.  July  7,  1861 ;  a.  18;  k.  Williamsburg, 
May  5,  1862. 

Coleman,  J.  A. ;  en.  August  8,  1862. 

Craven,  W.  H. ;  en.  July  15,  1862;  fell  out  of  ranks 
August,  1862,  and  never  heard  from. 

Cress,  Absalom;  en.  August  8,  1862. 


APPENDIX  513 

Cruse,  Joseph;  k. 

Cruse,  Tobias;  en.  August  8,  1862;  k.  at  Gettysburg, 
July  I,  1863. 

Davis,  Jackson;  en.  July  12,  1861 ;  a.  44;  pr.  to  5th. 
Sgt. 

Deal,  Levi;  en.  August  8,  1862;  w.  severely  at  Gettys- 
burg. 

Deberry,  Richard  L. ;  en.  June  11,  1861 ;  a.  19. 

Deberry,  William;  en.  June  18,  1862. 

Dolan,  Alfred;  en.  June  8,  1861 ;  a.  21. 

Earnhart,  Calvin;  en.  August  8,  1862;  d.  November, 

1862,  at  Guinea  Station. 
Earnhart,  David;  en.  August  8,  1862. 

Earnhart,  Isaac;  en.  August  8,  1862;  k.  July  i,  1863, 

Gettysburg. 
Earnhart,  J.  C. ;  en.  August  8,  1862. 
Eller,  Charles  A.;  en.  February  7,  1862;  w.  severely 

at  Williamsburg. 
Eller,  Hamilton;  en.  February  7,  1862;  w.  severely  at 

Seven  Pines. 
Fesperman,  J.  H. ;  en.  August  8,  1862. 
File,  Noah;  en.  August  8,  1862. 
Fink,  J.  C. ;  en.  August  8,   1862;  d.  of  d.,  April   i, 

1863,  at  Fredericksburg. 

Fink,  J.  F. ;  en.  June  2,  1861 ;  a.  19. 

Fink,  J.  M.;  en.  August  8,  1862;  d.  of  d.,  February 

21,  1863,  at  Richmond. 
Fry,  Pleasant;  en.  June   10,   1861 ;  a.   19;  pr.  to  2d. 

Cor.;  d.  of  d.,  at  Richmond,  August,  1862. 
Gardner,  J.  W. ;  en.  July  15,   1862;  d.  May  3,   1863^ 

Guinea  Station. 


514  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

Garver,  Benjamin;  en.  July  i,  1861 ;  a.  18. 

Garver,  John  M.;  en.  July  8,  1861 ;  a.  21. 

Hancock,  Thomas;  en.  July  5,  1861 ;  a.  28. 

Hardester,  E.  H,;  en.  July  15,  1862;  fell  out  of  ranks 
on  march  to  Maryland,  and  not  heard  from. 

Hardester,  L.  W. ;  en.  July  15,  1862;  w.  at  Sharps- 
burg. 

Heilig,  J.  M.;  en.  August  8,  1862;  a.  24;  k.  July  i, 
1863,  Gettysburg. 

Heilig,  Julius;  en.  June  8,  1861  ;  a.  18;  w.  Williams- 
burg and  pr.  to  Cor.  for  gallantry. 

Heilig,  J.  W. ;  en.  August  8,  1862;  a.  31. 

Heifer,  Edward;  en.  June  20,  1861 ;  a.  21. 

Hill,  E.  S.;  en.  July  15,  1862;  d.  December  31,  1862, 
Guinea  Station. 

Hill,  Jesse;  en.  July  15,  1862;  fell  out  of  ranks  on 
march  to  Maryland,  and  not  heard  from. 

Hill,  W.  H. ;  en.  July  15,  1862;  fell  out  of  ranks  on 
march  to  Maryland,  and  not  heard  from. 

Huie,  Elias  J.;  en.  June  17,  1861 ;  a.  31. 

Jones,  Levi ;  en.  August  16,  1861 ;  a.  22. 

Jones,  R.  B. ;  en.  July  15,  1862;  a.  40;  w.  Gettysburg. 

Keith,  George;  en.  August  8,  1862;  a.  28;  k.  July  i, 
1863,  Gettysburg. 

Kluttz,  EH;  en.  August  8,  1862;  a.  35. 

Kluttz,  Joseph;  en.  August  8,  1862;  a.  35;  d.  Decem- 
ber 18,  1862,  near  Fredericksburg. 

Leach,  D.  W. ;  en.  July  15,  1862;  a.  19. 

Leach,  E.  E. ;  en.  July  15,  1862;  a.  35;  w.  Gettysburg; 
d.  of  w.  July  15,  1863. 


APPENDIX  515 

Lefler,  \^'illiam ;  en.  June  28,  1861  ;  a.  21  ;  w.  Gettys- 
burg. 

Lentz,  L.  B. ;  en.  August  8,  1862;  a.  23;  d.  of  d., 
November  14,  1862,  near  \\'inchester,  Va. 

Lippard,  A.  L.  J.;  en.  August  8,  1862;  a.  21 ;  w.  Get- 
tysburg. 

Lippard.  E.  S.  P.;  en.  August  8,  1862;  a.  32. 

Luther,  George;  en.  July  15,  1862. 

Maxwell,  J.  R. ;  en.  June  28,  1861 ;  a.  21. 

Miller,  Jesse;  en.  August  8,  1862;  a.  34;  w.,  arm 
amputated. 

Mofifit,  B.  F.,  en.  July  15,  1862;  a.  19;  d.  of  d.,  Novem- 
ber I,  1862,  Richmond. 

Nance,  H.  H. ;  en.  July  15,  1862. 

Nance,  J.  M. ;  en.  July  15,  1862. 

Newell,  WilHam  G. ;  en.  July  12,  1861 ;  a.  50;  d.  of 
d.,  at  Camp  Wigfall,  Va. 

Nichols,  Columbus;  en.  July  5,  1861 ;  a.  19. 

Pechel,  IMiles ;  en.  June  19,  1861 ;  a.  2'] ;  d.  of  d.  at 
Richmond. 

Phillips,  D.  J. ;  en.  August  26,  1861 ;  a.  28. 

Porter,  Otis;  en.  August  31,  1861 ;  a.  47. 

Potter,  James;  en.  June  21,  1861  ;  a.  41 ;  d. 

Powe,  Hugh  T. ;  en.  August  8,  1862 ;  a.  33 ;  severely 
w.,  etc.,  at  Gettysburg,  and  d.  in  enemy's  hands. 

Quinn,  Michael;  en.  July  26,  1861 ;  a.  17;  tr.  to  a 
South  Carolina  Battalion. 

Rimer,  Reuben  H. ;  en.  July  2,  1861 ;  a.  22. 

Robinson,  J.  ]\I.;  en.  August  i,  1861 ;  a.  27;  k.  May 
5,  1862,  Williamsburg,  Va. 


5l6  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN   COUNTY 

Rose,  J.  A.;  en.  August  8,  1862;  a.  22;  d.  of  d., 
March  5,  1863,  at  home. 

Rose,  R.  A.;  en.  August  8,  1862;  a.  20;  d.  of  d., 
Farmville,  Va.,  March  26,  1863. 

Saf rit,  EH ;  en.  August  S,  1862 ;  w.  at  Gettysburg,. 

Safrit,  Moses;  en.  May  19,  1863;  a.  37;  w.  Gettys- 
burg; d.  of  w.  July  19,  1863. 

Scott,  WiUiam;  en.  June  12,  1861 ;  a.  22. 

Seaford,  Edmund;  en.  August  8,  1862;  w.  severely 
at  Gettysburg. 

Shupping,  John  A.;  en.  June  17,  1861 ;  a.  27. 

Sikes,  J.  P.;  en.  July  3,  1861 ;  a.  36;  d.  May,  1862,  in 
enemy's  hands,  of  w. 

Snider,  W.  L. ;  en.  July  15,  1862;  fell  out  of  ranks, 
August,  1862,  not  since  heard  from. 

Steed,  C.;  en.  July  15,  1862;  fell  out  of  ranks,  Au- 
gust,  1862,  not  since  heard  from. 

Stikeleather,  Alex.;  en.  June  30,  1861 ;  a.  21;  k.  Cold 
Harbor,  June  2y,  1862. 

Stirewalt,  Jacob;  en.  June  20,  1861 ;  a.  35. 

Sugart,  W.  C. ;  en.  July  15,  1862;  w.  severely  at 
Gettysburg. 

Swink,  James;  en.  June  10,  1861 ;  a.  19. 

Thompson,  S.  G. ;  en.  July  15,  1862;  fell  out  of  ranks 
August,  1862^  not  since  heard  from. 

Varner,  J.  G. ;  en.  July  15,  1862;  fell  out  of  ranks 
August,  1862,  not  since  heard  from. 

Wade,  Benjamin  F. ;  en.  June  14,  1861 ;  a.  28;  d.  Au- 
gust, 1862,  at  Camp  Wigfall. 

Watson,  ]\Iichael;  en.  July  25,  1861 ;  a.  16. 


APPENDIX  517 

West,  William;  en.  July  14,  1861 ;  a.  30. 
Winders,  Abner;  en.  June  12,  1861 ;  a.  22;  d.  of  d. 
at  Richmond. 


SIXTH  REGIMENT 
Officers,  Field  and  Staff 

Charles  F.  Fisher,  Col.;  en.  May  16,  1861 ;  a.  40;  k. 

Manassas  July  21,  1861 
A.  M.  Nesbit,  Surgeon;  en.  May  16,  1861 ;  a.  45;  tr. 

to  a  Virginia  Regiment,  July  15,  1861. 
Julius  A.  Caldwell,  Assistant  Surgeon;  en.   May   16, 

1861 ;  a.  32. 
C.   A.   Henderson,  Assistant   Surgeon;   en.   May    16, 

1861 ;  a.  26. 


Company  A 
Officers 
James  C.  Turner,  Capt. ;  en.  May  16,  1861 ;  a.  22. 


Company  G 
Officers 

James  A.  Craige,  Capt.;  en.  May  16,  1861 ;  a.  20;  pr. 

to  Major  Fifty-seventh  Regiment,  July  17,  1862;  w. 
R.  Rush  Smith,  ist.  Lt. ;  en.  May  26,  1861. 
James  T.  Rosenborough,  2d.  Lt. ;  en.  May  26,  1861. 
John  P.  M.  Barringer,  ist.  Sgt. ;  en.  May  29,   1861 ; 

a.  25;  k.  Seven  Pines,  May  31,  1862. 
David  M.   Basinger,  2d.  Sgt. ;  en.  May  29,   1861 ;  a. 

23;-pr.  to  ist.  Sgt.  November  i,  1862. 


5l8  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

William  C.  Cooper,  3d.  Sgt. ;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  21 ; 

d.    of   w.    received   at   Sharpsburg,    September   20, 

1862. 
George  H.  Brown,  4th.  Sgt.;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  20; 

pr.  to  ist  Sgt.  July  i,  1863;  w.  at  Second  Manassas; 

w.  and  c.  at  Gettysburg. 
William  Owens,  ist.  Cor.;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  20; 

k.  May  31,   Seven  Pines. 
Lewis  H.  Rothrock,  2d.  Cor. ;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  21 ; 

pr.  2d.  Lt.  December  20,  1861 ;  pr.  ist.  Lt. 
Abram  Miller,  3d.  Cor. ;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  20. 
Richard  Graham,  4th.  Cor.;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  19. 

Privates 

Allen,  Bartley ;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  28;  c.  November 
7,  1863,  Rappahannock  Railroad  Bridge. 

Atwell,  Charles  F. ;  en.  May  29,  1861  ;  a.  24;  pr.  Cor. 
November  3,  1863. 

Baker,  Joseph  N. ;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  19;  c.  Novem- 
ber 7,  1863,  Rappahannock  Railroad  Bridge. 

Earnhardt,  John  C. ;  en.  March  5,  1862;  a.  24;  c.  at 
Rappahannock  Railroad  Bridge,  November  7,  1863. 

Earnhardt,  Julius  A.;  en.  July  9,  1862;  a.  19;  d.  in 
hospital. 

Bencini,  Moses  A.;  en.  March  12,  1862;  a.  16;  tr.  to 
Company  K,   Fourth  Regiment. 

Elackwelder,  Alex.  W. ;  en.  May  29,  1861  ;  a.  23;  k. 
Seven  Pines,  May  31,  1862. 

Blackwelder,  Jacob  S.;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  21;  c. 
July  2,  1863. 

Bostian,  George  W. ;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  18. 


APPENDIX  519 

Bostian,  John  A.;  en.  June  5,  1861 ;  a.  20;  c.  Novem- 
ber 7,  1863,  Rappahannock  Railroad  Bridge. 

Bringle,  John;  en.  May  29,  1861  ;  a.  18;  c.  November 
7,  1863,  Rappahannock  Railroad  Bridge. 

Brolly,  James;  en.  May  29,  1862;  a.  28;  d.  of  d. 

Brown,  J.  McNeely. 

Cauble,  WilHam  Martin;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  23;  c. 
November  7,  1863,  Rappahannock  Railroad 
Bridge;  w.  Seven  Pines. 

Correll,  Joseph. 

Correll,  Joseph;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  29. 

Corriher,  Amos  B.;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  19;  k.  Ma- 
nassas July  I,  1861. 

Corriher,  Jacob  R. ;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  24;  k.  Ma- 
nassas July  I,  1861. 

Corriher,  Wash.  E. ;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  18;  k. 
Seven  Pines  May  31,  1862. 

Craige,  Clethus;  en.  March  15,  1862;  a.  18;  k.  at 
Cedar  Run,  1864. 

Cress,  Thomas;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  25;  k.  Sharps- 
burg,  September  17,  1862. 

Dancy,  Naphthall  L. ;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  23 ;  k. 
Manassas  July  i,  1861. 

Eagle,  Alex.;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  33;  d.  of  d.  at 
Liberty,  Va.,  June  20,  1862. 

Eagle,  Moses  I.;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  19;  d.  of  d. 
October  4,  1861. 

Edwards,  Hannibal. 

Edwards,  T.  E. ;  en.  June  5,  1861 ;  a.  17. 

Fesperman,  Levi  A.;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  23;  c. 
Rappahannock  Railroad  Bridge,  November  7,  1863. 


520  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

Freeze,  Caleb;  en.  September  ii,  1861 ;  a.  37;  d.  of  d., 

Richmond,,  July  10,  1862. 
Freeze,    Mike;   en.   May  29,    1861 ;   a.    19;   d.   of   d. 

September  4,  1861. 
Freeze,  Wiley;   en.   May  29,    1861 ;  a.    18;  d.   of   d. 

November  26,  1861. 
Gibbons,  Anderson;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  22. 
Graham,  John  C. ;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  22;  c.  Rap- 
pahannock Railroad  Bridge,  November  7,   1863. 
Graham,  Levi  A. 
Graham,  R.  Frank;  en.  May  29,   1861 ;  a.   19;  w.  at 

Second  Fredericksburg  battle ;  pr.  2d.  Cor. 
Greene,  Fortune;  en.  March   13,   1862;  a.  49;  d.   at 

Richmond,  July  10,  1862. 
Gullet,  Andrew  J. ;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  21 ;  w.  and  c. 

at  Gettysburg,  July,  1863. 
Hall,  James  O. ;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  19;  h.  d.  August 

4,  1861. 
Hearne,  George. 

Heilig,  John  F. ;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  19;  c.  Rappa- 
hannock Railroad  Bridge,   November  7,    1863. 
Hess,  John;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  20;  k.  at  Manassas 

Junction,  July  21,  1861. 
Holt,  James  A.;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  20;  w.  below 

Richmond,  Va. 
Howard,  John;  en.  May  29,   1861 ;  a.  23;  w.  and  c. 

Rappahannock  Railroad  Bridge,  November  7,  1863; 

w.  at  Manassas. 
Johnson,   Harrison;   en.   May  29,   1861 ;   a.   18;   c.   at 

Rappahannock  Railroad  Bridge,  November  7,  1863. 
Josey,  Moses  C. ;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  20. 


APPENDIX  521 

Josey,  W.  R. ;  d.  of  d.  in  hospital. 

Lee,  James. 

Lewis,  John   R. ;   en.   March    19,    1862;   a.   39;   d.   at 

Richmond,  September  i,  1862. 
Lipe,  Caleb  J. ;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  21. 
Lipe,  John  M. ;  en.  March  3,  1862 ;  a.  18;  d.  in  hospital. 
Love,  H.  C. 
Miller,  Abram  H. ;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  26;  pr.  2d. 

Lt.  December  2,  1862. 
Miller,  Emanuel;  en.   May  29,   1861 ;  a.  25;  c.  Rap- 
pahannock Railroad  Bridge,  November  7,  1863. 
Miller,  Ebenezer  H.;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  22;  c.  at 
Rappahannock  Railroad  Bridge,  November  7,  1863. 
Miller,  Henry  W.  A.;  en.  July  i,  1861 ;  a.  21 ;  pr.  2d. 

Lt.  Forty-second  Regiment,  March  15,  1862. 
Miller,  H.  W.;  w.  at  Manassas. 
Miller,  Jacob  W.;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  25;  w.  at  Ma- 
nassas, July  21,  1861. 
Miller,  John  L. ;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  20;  k.  at  Sharps- 
burg,  September  17,  1862. 
Miller,  Martin  M. ;  en.  March  5,   1862;  a.  28;  w.  at 

Gettysburg,  July  2,   1863. 
Miller,  R.  A.;  en.  February  5,  1862;  a.  19;  c.  Rappa- 
hannock Railroad  Bridge,  November  7,  1863. 
Miller,  William  Westley;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  19;  w. 

at  Seven  Pines,  May  31,  1862;  pr.  4th.  Cor. 
Morgan,  Calvin  R. ;  en.  March  3,  1864;  a.  18;  w.  Win- 
chester, Va.,  both  legs  broken,  one  amputated. 
Morgan,    Moses   Levi;    en.    July    i,    1861 ;   a.   23;   k. 
Gaines'  Farm,  June  2"/,  1862. 


522  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

Morgan,  Noah;  en.  March  3,  1864;  a.  18;  w.  October 
18,  1864. 

Nance,  Shadrack;  en.  July  i,  1861 ;  a.  27;  d.  in  p. 

Noah,  George  W. ;  en.  July  i,  1861 ;  a.  25;  k.  Ma- 
nassas Junction,  July  21,  1861. 

Overcash,  James  W. ;  en.  July  i,  1861 ;  a.  24;  c.  at 
Rappahannock  Railroad  Bridge,  November  7,  1863. 

Overcash,  John  S. ;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  21;  c.  at 
Rappahannock  Railroad  Bridge,  November  7,  1863. 

Owens,  Henry  C. ;  en.  July  i,  1861 ;  a.  19;  pr.  to  Sgt. 
November  i,  1862;  c. 

Owens,  Joseph  F. ;  en.  July  i,  1861 ;  a.  20;  c.  at  Rap- 
pahannock Railroad  Bridge,  November  7,  1863. 

Owens,  William  R. ;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  26;  k.  Seven 
Pines,  May  31,  1862. 

Penninger,  Wilson;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  26;  d.  in 
hospital,  Richmond. 

Pogue,  Elias  James;  en.  July  i,  1861 ;  a.  2^ \  c.  Rap- 
pahannock Railroad  Bridge,  November  7,  1863. 

Porter,  William  Henry;  en.  July  i,  1861 ;  a.  23;  k. 
Seven  Pines,  May  31,  1862. 

Redwine,  Peter  W. ;  en.  ]\Iay  29,  1861 ;  a.  18;  k.  at 
Gaines'  Farm,  July  ly,  1862. 

Rendleman,  Laurence  T. ;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  19;  k. 
at  Seven  Pines. 

Rendleman,  Tobias;  w.  at  Richmond,  May  31,  1861. 

Ritchie,  Charles;  en.  July  i,  1861 ;  a.  28;  c.  June  27, 
1862. 

Ritchie,  Henry  W. ;  en.  July  i,  1861 ;  a.  20;  w.  at 
Sharpsburg,   September  17,   1862. 


APPENDIX  523 

Ritchie,  Jacob  M. ;  en.  July  i,  1861 ;  a.  27;  c.  Rap- 
pahannock Railroad  Bridge,  November  7,  1863. 

Ritchie,  William  M.;  en.  ]\Iay  29,  1861 ;  a.  23;  h.  d. 
October,  1861. 

Russel,  James  W. ;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  21 ;  w.  and  c. 
at  Gettysburg,  July  i,   1863. 

Safrit,  Jacob  Monroe;  en.  June  5,  1861 ;  a.  19;  k.  at 
Manassas  Junction,  July  21,   1861. 

Setzer,  Jason  D. ;  en.  June  5,  1861 ;  a.  19;  k.  Ma- 
nassas Junction,  July  21,  1861. 

Sheppard,  John;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  34;  c.  at  Rap- 
pahannock Railroad  Bridge,  November  7,   1863. 

Shinn,  William  F. ;  en.  September  15,  1861 ;  a.  25;  w. 
at  Gettysburg,  July  i,  1863. 

Shullibarrier,  William  S.;  en.  July  i,  1861 ;  a.  19;  w. 
at  Sharpsburg,  September  17,  1862. 

Shuping,  Mike;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  22;  h.  d.  Novem- 
ber 16,   1861. 

Shuping,  Noah  R. ;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  21 ;  w.  at 
Second  Manassas,  August  29,  1862. 

Sloop,  David  Alex. ;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  23 ;  tr.  to 
Regimental  Band,  December  i,   1862. 

Sloop,  William  J.  A.;  en.  July  i^  1861 ;  a.  18;  d.  of 
d.  September  15,  1861. 

Smart,  T.  R. 

Smith,  J. ;  d.  of  d.  at  Ashland  hospital.  May  6,  1862. 

Smith,  Jacob  S.;  en.  July  i,  1861 ;  a.  21;  k.  at  Ma- 
nassas Junction,  July  21,  1861. 

Smith,  James;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  30;  w.  at  Fred- 
ericksburg, December  13,  1862. 


524  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

Smith,   William  A.;   en.   July   i,   1861 ;   a.    19;   k.   at 

Seven  Pines,  May  31,   1862. 
Smith,  William  H. ;  w.  at  Seven  Pines. 
Smith,  W.  J. 
Spears,  J.  F. 
Sronce,  Jacob ;  d.  of  d.  at  Camp  Fisher,  January  6, 

1862. 
Starrett,  George  M. ;  en.  July  i,   1861 ;  a.   19;  w.  at 

Seven  Pines. 
Starrett,  John  E.  D. ;  en.  ]\Iarch  15,  1862;  a.  19;  c.  at 

Rappahannock  Railroad  Bridge,  November  7,  1863. 
Stuart,  Thomas  R. ;  en.  March  15,  1862;  a.  23;  c.  at 

Rappahannock  Railroad  Bridge,  November  7,  1863. 
Swisher,  Alex.  C. ;  en.  July  i,  1861 ;  a.  23. 
Swisher,  Claudius  W. ;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  18;  c.  at 

Rappahannock  Railroad  Bridge,  November  7,  1863. 
Swisher,  J.  C. 
Thaxton,  Thomas  C. ;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  20;  w.  at 

Second  Manassas,  August  29,  1862. 
Thomason,  Frank  W. ;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  28;  d. 

at  Richmond,  July  i,  1862. 
Thomason,  James  W. ;  en.  September  13,  1861 ;  a.  23; 

d.  at  Montgomery  Springs,  Va.,  November  29,  1862. 
Thomason,  Jesse  B.;  en.  March   19,   1862;  a.  20;  c. 

Rappahannock  Railroad  Bridge,  November  7,  1863. 
Thomason,  John  P.;  en.  September  13,   1861 ;  a.  25; 

w.  at  Sharpsburg,  September  17,  1863. 
Thomason,  Pink  J. ;  w.  at  Richmond. 
Trexler,  Adam;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  20. 
Trexler,  ]\Iarcus;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  22;  c.  at  Rap- 
pahannock Railroad  Bridge,   November  7,   1863. 


APPENDIX  525 

Upright,  Eli;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  22\  c.  at  Rappa- 
hannock Railroad  Bridge,  November  7,  1863. 

Walker,  Joseph  M.;  en.  October  15,  1861  ;  a.  21 ;  k.  at 
Fredericksburg,  Va.,  December  13,  1862. 

Waters,  John. 

Wedlock,  W. 

\\'ilson,  Joseph  L. ;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  21;  pr.  to 
Sgt. 

Yost,  Solomon;  en.  May  29,  1861 ;  a.  20;  pr.  to  Cor. 
July  I,  1862. 


SEVENTH  REGIMENT 

Company  A 

Officers 

John  G.  Knox,  ist.  Lt. ;  en.  May  16,  1861 ;  a.  21;  pr. 
to  Capt.  April  4,  1862. 

Privates 

Knox,  Joseph  A.;   en.   May  29,    1863;  a.  21;  k.   at 
Gettysburg,  July  8,  1863. 


Company  E 
Privates 

Burwell,   Henry;   en.   August   i,    1862;  a.   23;   w.   at 

Sharpsburg. 
Link,  John;  en.  August  i,  1862;  a.  24. 
Link,  Oliver;  en.  August  i,  1862;  a.  30. 
Miller,  Jacob  C. ;  en.  August  i,  1862;  a.  33;  w.  Spott- 

sylvania  Courthouse,  May  12,   1864. 


526  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

Parker,  James  A.;  en.  August  i,  1862;  a.  18;  w.  at 
Sharpsburg;  k.  Spottsylvania  Courthouse,  May  12, 
1864. 

Stokes,  Obadiah;  en.  May  16,  1862;  a.  25;  d.  of  d., 
November,  1862. 


Company  F 
Officers 

John  McLeod  Turner,  Capt. ;  en.  May  16,  1861 ;  a.  19; 
pr.  to  Major  May  3,  1863;  pr.  to  Lt.-Col. ;  w.  in 
side  at  Newbern,  N.  C. ;  w.  in  head  at  Second  Ma- 
nassas; dangerously  w.  at  Fredericksburg,  Va.,  De- 
cember 13,  1862;  w.  through  right  lung  and  in  the 
head,  in  foot  and  through  waist,  at  Gettysburg, 
July  3^  1863,  by  which  he  was  permanently  disabled. 

William  H.  Crawford,  ist.  Lt. ;  en.  May  16,  1861 ;  a. 
28;  pr.  to  Capt.  Company  B,  Forty-second  Regi- 
ment. 

John  R.  Pearson,  2d.  Lt. ;  en.  October  10,  1863;  k.  in 
front,  Petersburg,  Va.,  1864. 

Thomas  G.  Williamson,  2d.  Lt. ;  en.  !May  16,  1861 ; 
a.  23. 

Elon  G.  Blackmer,  3d.  Lt. ;  en.  May  16,  1861 ;  a.  22. 

Hamilton,  J.  Pendleton,  5th.  Sgt. ;  en.  June  4,  1861  ; 
a.  28;  missing  in  battle  of  Newbern,  N.  C. 

James  C.  Johnson,  ist.  Cor. ;  en.  July  i,  1861 ;  a.  21. 

William  C.  Fesperman,  4th.  Cor. ;  en.  July  8,  1861 ; 
a.  22;  pr.  to  1st.  Sgt.  October,  1862;  w.  at  Rich- 
mond; w.  at  Fredericksburg,  December  13,  1862. 

John  W.  Rough,  Drummer;  en.  July  18,  1861 ;  a.  18. 


APPENDIX  527 

Privates 
Arey,  B.  C. ;  en.  August  20,  1862. 
Ayers,  Solomon  K. ;  en.  June  21,  1861  ;  a.  21;  pr.  to 

Sgt.  1863,  for  gallantry  and  good  conduct. 
Baker,  William;  en.  July  2,   1861 ;  a.   19. 
Basinger,  B.  P. ;  en.  August  20,  1862 ;  w.  at  Chancel- 

lorsville,   May  3,    1863. 
Basinger,    Harrell    M.;    en.    August   20,    1862;   c.    at 

Gettysburg. 
Blackburn,  I.  H. 

Bostian,   Jacob  A. ;   w.   at   Ream   Station. 
Brown,  James   H. ;  en.   June  20,   1861 ;  a.   24;  k.   at 

Chancellorsville,  May  3,  1863. 
Cauble,  David  M.;  en.  June  15,   1861 ;  a.   19;  pr.  to 

Cor.  January  i,  1863 ;  w.  below  Richmond. 
Cline,  James;  en.  October  20,  1861 ;  a.  56. 
Coyle,  Adam;  en.  June  3,  1861 ;  a.  19;  w.  at  Chancel- 
lorsville. 
Deberry,   David  S.;  en.  June   13,   1861 ;  a.   17;  c.   at 

Gettysburg. 
Earnhardt,  Lorenzo  S. ;  en.  June  13,  1861 ;  a.  18;  c.  at 

Gettysburg  and  exchanged. 
Eller,  Caleb;  en.  August  20,  1862. 
Eller,  Jesse;  en.  August  20,  1862. 
Fight,  Henry  T. ;  en.  June  8,  1861 ;  a.  21 ;  pr.  to  Cor. 

Colorbearer  at  Gaines'   Mill,  where  w.,  and  w.   at 

Fredericksburg. 
File,  EH. 

Fleming,  Richard. 
Graham,  Hezekiah  C. ;  en.  July  r,  1861 ;  a.  34. 


528  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

Hagler,  Charles  W. ;  en.  July  20,   1861 ;  a.  19;  w.  at 

Fredericksburg,   leg  amputated. 
Headinger,  Wiley;  en.  June  4,  1861 ;  a.  26. 
Hill,  Henry  G.;  en.  July  i,  1861 ;  a.  19;  k.  at  Ox  Hill, 

September  i,  1862. 
Hooks,  George  E. ;  en.  June  5,  1861 ;  a.  25. 
Johnson,  John;  en.  July  8,  1861 ;  a.  18. 
Kinnerly,  Charles  W. ;  en.  June  15,  1861 ;  a.  20. 
Kinnerly,  John  A.;  en.  June   6,   1861 ;   a.   23;  k.   at 

Williamsport,  Md.,  June  6,  1863. 
Kluttz,  W.  Lawson. 

Knox,  James  G. ;  en.  April  7,  1862;  a.  28. 
Mills,  Woodson  D. ;  en.  June  3,  1861 ;  a.  40;  k.  Ox 

Hill,   September   i,   1862. 
Morgan,  John  G. ;  en.  August  20,  1862. 
Myers,   John   H. ;   en.   June   15,    1861 ;   a.    19;   k.   at 

Frazier's  Farm,  June  30,  1862. 
Owens,  Giles  S. ;  en.  July  3,  1861 ;  a.  22. 
Pennington,  George  B. ;  en.  June  4,  1861 ;  a.  21 ;  w.  at 

Fredericksburg. 
Pennington,  John. 
Phillips,  D.  V. 
Pinkston,  T.  R. 
Quillman,  George. 
Reid,  Calvin;  d.  of  w.   received  at  Battle  of  Jones' 

House,  October,  1864. 
Reid,  Jesse;  drowned  in  Yadkin  River  in  sight  of  his 

home,  returning  from  Army  of  Northern  Virginia 

after  Lee's  surrender. 
Reid,  Milas. 
Ridenhour,  A.  H. 


APPENDIX  529 

Rimer,  H.  F. 

Robinson,  S.  W. 

Rowe,  Peter. 

Rufty,  Rufus  . 

Stokes,    W.    C. ;    d.    of    w.    received    at    Sharpsburg, 

September  24,  1862. 
Swink,  Edward. 
Turner,  W.  L. 
Watkins,  L. 
Watson,  Albert  W. 
Wilkinson,  John;  en.  August  10,   1861 ;  a.  30;  c.  at 

Gettysburg. 
Williamson,  E. 
Wyatt,  Thomas. 


EIGHTH  REGIMENT 

Company  F 

Officers 

Leonard  A.  Henderson,  2d.  Lt. ;  en.  May  16,  1861 ;  a. 
19;  pr.  Capt.  November,  1862;  c.  at  Roanoke  Island, 
February  8,  1862 ;  k.  while  leading  his  Regiment  in 
a  charge  at  Cold  Harbor,  June  i,  1864. 

Privates 

Ashley,  Wilburn;  en.  August  5,  1861 ;  a.  19;  w.  se- 
verely at  Roanoke  Island,  N.  C,  February  8,  1862. 

Bostian,  Andrew;  en.  August  10,  1861  ;  a.  36. 

Bostian,  Wiley;  en.  July  20,  1861 ;  a.  21;  w.  at  Roa- 
noke Island,  February  8,   1862. 


530  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN   COUNTY 

Rogers,  A.  J.;  en.  March  4,  1864;  a.   17;  enlisted  on 

his  own  accord  for  forty  years. 
Sloop,  Luther;  en.  August  4,  1863;  ^-  i^- 


Company  H 
Privates 
Earnhardt,  Crusoe;  en.  March  3,   1863. 
Ketchey,  William  R. ;  detailed  as  Courier  for  General 

Clingman. 
Kistler,  G.  C. ;  en.  June  2y,  1863. 
Patterson,  J.  E. ;  k.  at  Plymouth,  N.  C,  April  20,  1864. 
Patterson,  S.  G. ;  en.  September  i,  1862;  w.  at  Harri- 
son, Va.,  September  30,  1864. 


Company  K 
Officers 

Pinkney  A.  Kennerly,  Capt. ;  en.  July  5,  1861 ;  a.  38. 

William  H.  Howerton,  ist.  Lt. ;  en.  July  5,  1861 ;  re- 
signed. 

John  J.  Bell,  2d.  Lt. ;  en.  July  5,  1861 ;  a.  56;  pr.  to  ist. 
Lt. ;  w.  at  Roanoke  Island ;  resigned. 

WilHam  M.  Wilhelm,  2d.  Lt. ;  en.  July  5,  1861 ;  a.  33 ; 
pr.  to  1st.  Lt.  October  15,  1862. 

Wilson  W.  Morgan,  ist.  Sgt. ;  en.  July  5,  1861 ;  a.  32; 
d.  while  on  sick  furlough  at  Salisbury,  N.  C. 

Stephen  A.  Shuman,  2d.  Sgt.;  en.  July  5,  1861 ;  a.  16; 
pr.  to  ist.  Sgt.;  c.  Cold  Harbor,  Va. 

John  C.   Moore,   3d.   Sgt.;   en.   July   5,   1861  ;   a.   26; 
resigned  on  own  account ;  c.  at  Cold  Harbor,  Va. 

S.  T.  Chafin,  4th.  Sgt.;  en.  July  5,  1861 ;  a.  22;  h.  d. 


APPENDIX  531 

Joseph  E.  Ide,  5th.  Sgt. ;  en.  August  i,  1861 ;  a.  44;  c. 

at  Cold  Harbor,  May  31,  1864. 
Henry  A.  Kale,  ist.  Cor.;  en.  August  2,  1861 ;  a.  27; 

resigned,  on  detached  duty. 
William  Rainey,  2d.  Cor.;  en.  July  5,  1861 ;  a.  25 ;  tr. 

to  Fifty-seventh  Regiment,  January  31,  1864. 
Philip  Ivey  Miller,  4th.  Cor.;  en.  August  6,   1861 ;  a. 

26;  pr.  to  2d.  Lt.  March,  1863;  shot  through  right 

lung  at  Plymouth,  N.  C. ;  k.  at  Fort  Harrison,  Va., 

September  30,  1864. 

Privates 

Agner,  H.  C. ;  en.  August  2,  1861 ;  a.  18;  h.  d. 
Agner,  Lewis;  en.   September  4,   1862;  a.   34;  w.   at 

Plymouth,  N.  C,  April  20,  1864. 
Agner,  William;  en.  July  15,  1861 ;  a.  19;  w.  Bermuda 

Hundred,  May  20,  1864;  k.  at  Petersburg,  August 

19,  1864. 
Barger,  George  A.;  en.  July  15,  1862;  a.  17;  c.  Cold 

Harbor,  May  31,  1864. 
Barger,  George  H.;  en.  December  17,  1862;  a.  2^;  d. 

in  p. 
Barger,  Jacob;  en.  August  23,  1861 ;  a.  21 ;  c.  at  Cold 

Harbor,  May  31,   1861. 
Barger,  Moses  J.;  en.  August  28,  1861 ;  a.  21 ;  pr.  2d. 

Sgt. 
Barker,  Cicero  R. ;  en.  August   12,   1861 ;  a.   13;  pr. 

Drum-Major  of  Regiment,  1863. 
Barnhardt,  William  A. ;  w.  at  Drewry's  Bluff,  May  18, 

1864. 


532  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN    COUNTY 

Barringer,  David  M. ;  en.  September  3,  1861 ;  a.  16;  k. 

in  front,  Newbern,  N.  C,  February  2,  1864. 
Basinger,  Andrew ;  en.  July  27,  1861 ;  a.  20;  pr.  to  Cor.  ; 

c;  d.  in  p. 
Basinger,  John;  en.  August  28,  1861 ;  a.  19;  h.  d. 
Bean,  W.  Hunter;  en.  September  14,  1862;  a.  25;  leg 

amputated  at  Bermuda  Hundred,  May  20,  1864. 
Boggs,  Peter;  en.  August  10,  1861 ;  a.  18;  h.  d. 
Brockman,  John  G. ;  en.  July  20,  1861 ;  a.  51;  w.  at 

Plymouth,  N.  C,  April  20,  1864;  d.  in  hospital  at 

Richmond. 

Brothers,  . 

Brown,  Alike;  en.  December  17,  1862;  a.  38;  d.  of  d. 

April,  1863. 
Burriss,    Solomon;    w.    at    Drewry's    Bluff,    May    18, 

1864. 
Cadwell,  Jesse  B. ;  en.  August  i,  1861 ;  a.  40;  seriously 

w.  at  Plymouth,  N.  C,  April  20,  1864. 
Canup,  Benjamin  F. ;  en.  April  14,  1863,  d.  in  p. 
Canup,  Milas  A.;  en.  April  14,  1863;  d.  in  p. 
Clark,  James  W. ;  en.  December  20,  1862;  a.  18;  c. 
Clark,  John;  d.  in  p. 

Colley,  John  T. ;  en.  September  2,  1861 ;  a.  24;  c. 
Colley,  Samuel  B. ;  en.  September  2,  1861 ;  a.  20;  pr. 

to  Cor. ;  w.  at  Battery  W^agner,   S.  C. ;  w.  in  two 

places  at  Plymouth,  N.  C,  April  20,  1864. 
Cranford,  Stephen  J.;  en.  July  18,  1861 ;  a.  46;  h.  d. 
Crotser,  Joseph;  en.  July  3,  1862;  a.  16;  d.  of  d.  Au- 
gust, 1863. 
Cruse,  Rufus  J.;  en.  July  18,  1861  ;  a.  20;  pr.  to  Cor.; 

c. ;  d.  in  p. 


APPENDIX  533 

Deal,  Charles  A.;  en.  July  14,  1861 ;  a.  28;  k.  at  Plym- 
outh, N.  C,  April  20,  1864. 
Deal,   Jacob  A.;  w.   at  Bermuda   Hundred,   yiay  20, 

1864. 
Eagle,  George;  en.  August  31,   1861 ;  a.  20;  d.  of  d. 

December,  1863. 
Etheridge,  William;  en.  July  16,   1861 ;  a.  36;  w.  at 

Plymouth,  N.  C,  April  20,  1864. 
Farr,   F.  M. ;  en.  July   11,   1861 ;  a.   20;   disabled  by 

wounds  received  at  Battery  Wagner,  S.  C. 
Gallimore,  Roby;  w.   at  Plymouth,   N.   C,  April   20, 

1864. 
Gates,  Jesse  C. ;  w.  twice  at  Plymouth,  N.  C.,  April 

20,   1864. 

Goodman, ;  d.  of  d. 

Harkey,  Paul  R. ;  en.  July  15,  1861 ;  a.  19;  k.  at  Ber- 
muda Hundred,  May  20,  1864. 
Hartman,  W.  F. ;  en.  September  5,  1861 ;  a.  16;  d.  of  d. 

March,  1862. 
Hess,  Thomas;  k.  at  Fort  Harrison,  Va.,   September 

30,  1864. 
Hoffman,   M.   C.;  w    at  Plymouth,   N.   C,  April  20, 

1864. 
Holhouser,  J.  R. ;  en.  July  2y,  1861 ;  a.  21 ;  c.  at  Cold 

Harbor,  May  31,  1864. 
Holhouser,  Wiley  M. ;  en.  August  6,  1861 ;  a.  28;  h.  d. 
Holobough,  George  M. ;  en.  July  21,  1861 ;  a.  19;  c.  at 

Cold  Harbor,  May  31,  1864. 
House,  James  H. ;  en.  July  14,  1862 ;  a.  30;  w.  Drewry's 

Bluff,  May  13,  1864. 


534  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN    COUNTY 

Jenkins,  John  W. ;  en.  July  i6,  1861  ;  a.  30 ;  pr.  to  Cor. ; 
w.  at  Drewry's  Bluff,  May  13,  1864;  w.  and  c.  at 
Fort  Harrison,  Va.,  September  30,   1864. 

Johnson,  Ransom;  k.  at  Kinston,  N.  C,  March  9, 
1865. 

Kale,  Pinkney  C. ;  c. 

Kestler,  Cornelius;  w.  at  Fort  Harrison,  Va.,  Septem- 
ber 30,  1864. 

Kestler,  James  H. ;  en.  July  22,  1861 ;  a.  21 ;  d.  of  d. 

Kestler,  WiUiam  A.;  en.  July  22,  1861 ;  a.  19;  w.  at 
Plymouth,  N.  C,  April  20,  1864;  c.  at  Cold  Harbor, 
May  31,  1864. 

Ketchney,  John  I. ;  en.  July  31,  1861 ;  a.  22 ;  k.  at  Plym- 
outh, N.  C,  April  20,   1864. 

Lanning,  . 

Lefler,  William  M. ;  en.  July  25,  1861 ;  a.  31 ;  k.  by  a 
fall  from  railroad  bridge  at  Salisbury,  N.  C,  July, 
1862. 

Lentz,  John. 

Linebarrier,  John  M. ;  en.  August  12,  1861 ;  a.  18;  d. 
of  d. 

Lineberrier,  James;  en.  November  10,  1862;  h.  d. 

Lucas,  John  H.;  en.  July  11,  1861 ;  a.  18;  h.  d. 

Lucas,  John;  en.  November  8,  1861 ;  a.  35;  d.  of  d. 
November,  1861. 

Lyerly,  Alex.  M. ;  en.  December  11,  1863;  a.  17;  c. 

McGuire,  Thomas;  en.  August  10,  1861 ;  a.  21;  w.  at 
Bermuda  Hundred,  May  18,  1864. 

McKinley, ;  d.  of  d.  August  20,  1864. 

Melton,  Wallace;  en.  July  6,  1861 ;  a.  21;  tr. 


APPENDIX  535 

Miller,  Crawford  A.;  en.  August  6,  1861 ;  a.  21 ;  d.  of 

d.  November,  1862. 
Miller,  John  Wilkes ;  w.  at  Fort  Harrison,  September 

30,  1864;  w.  at  Bentonville,  N.  C,  March  19,  1865. 
Morgan,  Abram;  en.  July  17,  1861 ;  a.  28;  w.  at  Plym- 
outh, N.  C,  April  20,  1864. 
Morgan,  Ivey  C. ;  en.  July  17,  1861 ;  a.  21;  pr.  Cor.; 

w.  seriously  at  Drewry's  Bluff,  May  13,  1864. 
Morgan,   John   C. ;   w.   at   Fort   Harrison,   September 

30,  1864. 
Murph,   John  L. ;  k.   at   Plymouth,   N.   C,  April  20, 

1864. 
Murph,  J.  R. ;  en.  July  13,  1861 ;  a.  25 ;  w.  at  Roanoke 

Island,  February  8,  1862;  w.  at  Bermuda  Hundred, 

May  20,  1864;  w.  at  Bentonville,  N.  C,  March  20,. 

1865. 
Newson,  J.  E. ;  en.  July  31,  1861 ;  a.  23;  c.  three  times. 
Peeler,  Moses  J.;  en  September  14,  1862;  a.  20;  d.  of 

d.   January,    1863. 
Plummer,  Frank  E. ;  c. 
Plummer,  William  J.;  en.  November  22,  1861 ;  a.  18; 

w.  at  Plymouth,  N.  C,  April  20,  1864. 
Price,  Thomas;  en.  September  6,  1861 ;  a.  18. 
Propst,  Henry  M. ;  en.  September  14,  1862 ;  a.  21 ;  c. 
Propst,  William  D. ;  en.  September  14,  1862;  a.  34;  d. 

of  d.  at  Wilmington,  N.  C,  June,  1863. 
Rainey,  John;  k.  at  Plymouth,  N.  C,  April  20,  1864. 
Rainey,  WilHam ;  en.  August  2^,  1861 ;  a.  24;  tr.  to^ 

Fourth  Regiment,  1862. 


536  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

Reeves,  Charles;  en.  November  10,  1862;  a.  36;  h.  d. 

Riley, . 

Rimer,  John  L. ;  en.  July  6,  1861 ;  a.  16;  w.  at  Plym- 
outh, N.  C,  April  20,  1864. 

Rimer,  Leonard;  en.  July  14,  1861  ;  a.  40;  h.  d. 

Rimer,  Milton  F. ;  en.  November  17,  1861 ;  a.  14;  k.  at 
Battery  Wagner,  S.  C,  August  31,  1863. 

Rowzee,  Claudius  W. ;  en.  August  2"],  1861 ;  a.  25; 
pr.  Hospital  Steward  in  Navy. 

Rufty,  James  R. ;  en.  September  14,  1862;  a.  22;  de- 
tailed as  miller. 

Sawyer,  Robert  W. ;  en.  September  6,  1861 ;  a.  15;  h. 
d.,  but  remained  on  his  own  account  and  took  a  drum 
until  large  enough  to  handle  a  musket;  w.  through 
the  hand  at  Plymouth,  N.  C,  April  20,  1864,  and 
pierced  by  four  balls  at  Fort  Harrison,  Va.,  Septem- 
ber 30,  1864;  d.  in  hands  of  the  enemy. 

Sawyer,  WiUiam  R. ;  en.  July  6,  1861 ;  a.  18;  c.  at 
Cold  Harbor,  June  i,  1864. 

Seaford,  W.  M. ;  en.  July  31,  1861 ;  a.  25;  w.  and  re- 
fused to  leave  the  field  at  Plymouth,  N.  C,  April 
20,  1864,  and  k.  the  same  day. 

Shaver,  Abram;  en.  July  17,  1861 ;  a.  21 ;  d.  in  p. 

Shaver,  Alex. ;  en.  July  26,  1861 ;  a.  21 ;  c. 

Sheppard,  Daniel ;  en.  July  8,  1861 ;  a.  23 ;  d.  in  p. 

Shipton,  Hiram;  en.  August  23,  1861 ;  a.  17;  tr.  to 
Engineering  Corps,  June,  1863. 

Sloan,  James  T. ;  en.  July  6,  1861 ;  a.  20;  w.  at  Roa- 
noke Island,  February  8,  1862. 


APPENDIX  537 

Spears,  Josiah  W. ;  en.  July  6,  1861 ;  a.  27;  d.  of  d. 
Stoner,  Alfred;  en.  August  31,  1861 ;  a.  18;  d.  of  d. 

November,  1861. 
Swink,   George  R. ;  en.  July   13,   1861 ;   a.   18;  w.   at 

Petersburg,  Va.,  June  17,  1864. 
Swink,  Leslie  D. ;  en.  July  15,  1861  ;  a.  18;  w.  and  c.  at 

Cold  Harbor,  June  i,  1864;  d.  in  p. 
Swink,  Peter;  leg  amputated  at  Plymouth,  N.  C,  April 

20,   1864. 
Swink,  Peter  R. ;  en.  July  15,  1861 ;  a.  45;  d.  of  d.  at 

Richmond,  Va.,  August  5,  1864. 
Taylor,  D.  C.  S. ;  c. 

Thompson.  John;  en.  July  2"/,  1861 ;  a.  43;  h.  d. 
Tries,  Peter;  c. 
Weant,  Alex.  W. 
White,  James  R.  H. ;  pr.  Cor. ;  c. 
Wormington,  James;  en.  July  30,   1861 ;  a.  22;  w.  at 

Sullivan's  Island,  S.  C. ;  d.  in  p. 
Wright,  \\'illiam  M.;  en.  July  24,  1861 ;  a.  41  ;  d.  in  p. 
Wyatt,  Gilbert  1. ;  en.  July  6,  1861 ;  a.  32;  k.  at  Battery 

Wagner,  S.  C,  August  28,  1863. 
Wyatt,  James  I. ;  en.  July  17,  1861 ;  a.  22 ;  d.  of  d. 
Wyatt,  Wilson  R. ;  en.  July  6,  1861 ;  a.  32;  d.  of  d. 

March,  1862. 

This  entire  Company  with  its  Regiment  was  captured  on 
Roanoke  Island,  N.  C,  February  8,  1862;  retained  as  prisoners 
for  two  weeks  and  paroled;  exchanged  and  reorganized  at 
Raleigh,  N.  C,  September,  1862;  assigned  to  CHngman's 
Brigade,  where  it  remained  until  its  surrender  with  Gen. 
Joseph  E.  Johnston's  Army,  at  Greensboro,  N.  C,  April  26, 
1865. 


538  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

TENTH   REGIMENT 
Company  B 
Privates 
John  S.  Henderson. 


ELEVENTH  REGIMENT  (OLD  BETHEL) 

Company 

Officers 
Calvin  S.  Brown,  Capt. 


Company  K 
Privates 
Smith,  J.  L. ;  en.  April  25,  1861 ;  a.  21;  pr.  to  Sgt. 
Forty-second  Regiment. 


THIRTEENTH  REGIMENT 

Company  F 

Privates 

Clomminger,   Alonzo ;    a.    22 ;   k.    at   Chancellorsville, 

Va.,  May  3,  1863. 


FOURTEENTH  REGIMENT 

Company  B 

Privates 

Bemister,   Thomas;   en.   May   i,    1861 ;   a.   25;   tr.   to 

Company  D,  November  30,  1862. 


APPENDIX  539 

Company  I 

Privates 

Todd,  Giles;  d.  of  d.,  1863. 

Fred   C.   Fisher;  attached  to  Gen.   W.   H.   F.   Lee's 

Staff. 
A.  H.  Boyden;  attached  to  Gen.  R.  F.  Hoke's  Staff. 


FIFTEENTH  REGIMENT 
Company  C 
Privates 
Williamson,  P.;  en.  July  15,  1862;  a.  56. 


SIXTEENTH  REGIMENT 
Officers 
Benjamin  F.  Moore;  appointed  Adjt.  April  26,  1862; 
w.  at  Mechanicsville,  Va. 


TWENTIETH   REGIMENT 

Company  A 

Privates 

Bell,  Robert  O.  B. ;  en.  April  20,  1861 ;  a.  24;  d.  of  d., 

at  Sahsbury,  N.  C,  August  5,  1863. 
Castor,  Daniel;  en.  March  16,  1862;  a.  35;  d.  of  d.  at 

Hanover  Junction,  Va.,  April  18,  1863. 
Correll,  Adam  M. ;  en.  June  7,  1861 ;  a.  22. 
Deal,  George  H. ;  en.  June  7,  1862 ;  a.  28. 
Fink,  D.  C;  en.  April  20,  1861 ;  a.  27. 


540  HISTORY  OF   ROWAX   COUNTY 

Fink,  Henry  H. ;  en.  May  3,  1861 ;  a.  21. 

Gordy,  John  W. ;  en.  1862;  a.  39;  w.  at  Cold  Harbor; 

k.  at  Chancellorsville,  Va.,  May,  1863. 
Lingle,  Alfred;  en.  Alarch  19,  1862;  a.  25. 
Patterson,   I.   Frank;   en.   June  7,    1861 ;   a.    18;   arm 

amputated  at  Chancellorsville,  Ya. 
Petchel,  Jacob  V.;  en.  June  7,  1861 ;  a.  24;  w.  at  ]\Ial- 

vern  Hill. 
Wensil,  Henry  A.;  en.  ]\Iarch  19,  1861  ;  a.  24;  w.  at 

Gettysburg,  Pa. 


TWENTY-THIRD  REGIMENT 
Company  D 
Privates 
Bringle,  Nicholas;  en.  September  6,  1862;  a.  42. 
CalHcut,  Pascal;  en.  September  6,  1862;  a.  23. 
Clifford,  Branch  G. ;  en.  September  6,  1862;  a.  18. 
Edgerson,  John;  en.  September  6,  1862;  a.  28. 
Eller,  Joshua;  en.   September  6,   1862;  a.  28;  w.  at 

Gettysburg. 
Eller,  Moses;  en.  September  6,   1862;  a.  34;  sent  to 

hospital  September  17,  1862;  missing. 
Eller,  Richard  E. ;  en.  September  6,  1862;  a.  36;  d.  of 

d.  at  Winchester,  Va.,  November,  1863. 
Eudy,  William  C. ;  en.  September  6,  1862;  a.  19;  d.  of 

d.  at  Winchester,  Va.,  April  2,  1863. 
File,  Milas  A. ;  en.  September  6,  1862 ;  a.  33. 
Hill,  Henry;  en.  September  6,  1862;  a.  32. 
Lutrick,  Alfred  N. ;  en.  September  6,  1862;  a.  28;  d. 

of  d.  at  Richmond,  Va.,  July  6,  1862. 


APPENDIX  541 

Stirewalt,  Frank  A.;  en.  September  6,  1862;  a.  32;  w. 

at  Chancellorsville. 
Stone,  Charles  W. ;  en.  September  6,  1862;  a.  31. 
Misenheimer,  M.  R. ;  en.  September  6,  1862;  a.  30. 


Company  H 
Privates 

Eller,  Eli;  en.  September  3,  1862;  d.  of  d.  at  Rich- 
mond, Va. 

Eller,  James;  en.  September  3,  1862. 

Eller,  Samuel;  en.  September  3,  1862;  leg  amputated 
at  Gettysburg,   Pa. 

Frick,  John;  en.  September  4,  1862;  k.  at  Gettysburg, 
July,  1863. 

Lemley,  B.  T. ;  en.  September  4,  1862. 

Lemley,  D.  A.;  en.  September  4,  1862. 

Vandervort,  W.   K.   G. ;  en.   September  4,   1862;  se- 
verely w.  at  Chancellorsville,  Va. 

Wyatt,  G.  W.;  en.  August  i,  1862. 

Wyatt,  J.  E.;  en.  September  4,  1862. 

Wyatt,  W.  W. ;  en.  September  4,  1862;  k.  at  Gettys- 
burg, Pa.,  July,  1863. 


TWENTY-SIXTH  REGIMENT 
Company  I 
Privates 
Dickson,  M.  B.;  en.  September  23,  1862;  a.  34. 


542  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

TWENTY-EIGHTH  REGIMENT 
Officers 
F.  N.  Luckey;  en.  September  25,  1861 ;  Assistant  Sur- 
geon; pr.  to  Surgeon,  February,  1862. 


Company  D 
Privates 
Arey,  G.  W. ;  en.  March  15,  1862;  a.  32;  w. 
Canup,  D.  A. ;  d.  of  d. 
Lyerly,  Hartwell. 
Malt,  Isaac  C. ;  d.  of  d. 
Malt,  J.  P. ;  w.  at  Gettysburg. 
Miller,  A.  D. ;  k.  at  Gettysburg. 
Parker,  B.  P. ;  k.  at  Sharpsburg. 
Parker,  John  A. ;  d.  of  d. 


THIRTIETH  REGIMENT 

Company  K 

Privates 

Dunn,  George;  en.  July  i,  1863 ;  a.  43. 

Thompson,  James;  en.  July  i,  1863;  a.  37;  d.  of  d.,  at 

Morton's  Ford,  December  12,  1863. 
West,  WiUiam;  en.  July  i,  1863;  a.  40. 


THIRTY-FIRST  REGIMENT 
Company  K 
Pi'ivates 
McLaughlin,  W.  H. ;  en.  May  2";,  1863 ;  a.  36. 


APPENDIX  543 

THIRTY-THIRD  REGIMENT 

Company  C 

Officers 

Frank  B.  Craige,  2d.  Lt.;  en.  February  20,  1864;  a. 

18;  pr.  to  1st.  Lt.  July  28,  1864. 

Company  G 
Privates 
Miller,  H.  W. ;  en.  September  23,  1864;  a.  38. 
Owens,  W.  F. ;  en.  September  23,  1864;  a.  35. 


THIRTY-FOURTH  REGIMENT 

Company  D 

Officers 

William  A.  Houck,  Capt. ;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a. 

35;  pr.  to  Lt.-Col.  on  reorganization  of  Regiment; 

resigned. 
John  Graham,  2d.  Lt. ;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  37; 

pr.  to  I  St.  Lt.  October  25,  1861 ;  resigned. 
John  P.  Parks,  Lt. ;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  27;  pr. 

1st.  Lt.  April  18,   1862;  k.  below  Richmond,  June 

30,  1862. 
Robert  S.  Cowan,  2d.  Sgt. ;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a. 

22]  pr.  to  2d.  Lt.  April   18,   1862;  k.  below  Rich- 
mond, June  30,  1862. 
James  Basinger,  3d.  Sgt. ;  en.  September  9,   1861 ;  a. 

30;  pr.  to  2d.  Lt.  July  20,  1862;  d.  of  w.  received  at 

Sharpsburg,  September  18,  1862. 


544  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

P.  A.  Sloop,  4th.  Sgt. ;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  21; 

severely  w.  at  Chancellorsville. 
W.  A.  Kilpatrick,  5th.  Sgt. ;  en.  September  9,  1861 ; 

a.  26;  w.  at  Chancellorsville. 
C.  K.  McNeely,  ist.  Cor.;  en.  September  g,  1861 ;  a. 

25;  pr.  to  Lt.  July,  1862;  pr.  to  Capt.  September 

7,  1862. 
James  B.  Parker,  2d.  Cor. ;  en.  September,  1861 ;  a.  37. 
Edward  Sloop,  3d.  Cor. ;  en.  September  9,   1861 ;  a. 

34;  d.  of  d.  at  Richmond,  July  30,  1862. 

P7'ivates 

Atkinson,  Thomas  J.;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  21; 

pr.  to  Sgt.  April,  1862;  d.  of  d. 
Atwell,  B.  M. ;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  18;  d.  of  w. 

received  at  Richmond. 
Atwell,  George  A.;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  18;  pr. 

to  Sgt.-Major  February,  1863;  pr.  to  Lt.  Company 

E;  pr.  to  Capt.  August,  1863. 
Atwell,  George  L. ;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  17;  d. 

of  d.  April  25,  1863,  at  Fredericksburg,  Va. 
Baker,  Henry. 
Barnhardt,  Wiley. 
Barnhardt,  William;  k.  at  Petersburg,  Va. 

Bostian, . 

Brown,  Henry  T. ;  en.  September  9,  1861. 
Clodfelter,  John  T. ;  en.  September  g,  1861 ;  a.  19;  k. 

at  Petersburg,  Va. 
Corriher,  Joel;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  25 ;  w. 
Dancy,  A.  L. ;  en.  May  15,  1862;  d.  of  d.  September, 

1862,  at  Danville,  Va. 


APPENDIX  545 

Davis,  William ;  d.  of  d.  at  High  Point,  N.  C. 

Douglas,  Augustus;  d.  of  d. 

Douglas,  Joseph  A. 

Douglas,  Samuel ;  pr.  to  3d.  Lt. ;  d.  of  d. 

Edmiston,  A.  H.;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  23;  w. 

Eller,  Green;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  29. 

Eller,  Obadiah;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  21;  pr.  to 

Sgt.  September  i,  1863. 
Elliott,  William  F. ;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  19;  d. 

of  d.  in  hospital,  October  24,  1862. 
Ellis,  John  W. ;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  20;  pr.  to 

Sgt.  May  3,  1863. 
Foster,  George;  en.  September  g,  1861 ;  a.  16. 
Freeland,  James. 

Frieze,  Miles  W. ;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  19. 
Glover,  James;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  17. 
Harrill,  William;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  38;  d.  of 

w.  received  at  Richmond. 
Hodgins,  Martin ;  leg  amputated. 
Jamison,  M.  S. ;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  37. 
Kistler,  T.  H. ;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  20;  pr.  to 

Cor.  July,  1863;  w.  at  Manassas;  d.  of  w.  received 

at  Culpeper  Courthouse. 
Leazer,  William  A.;  en.  September  9,  1861. 
Lowder,  Daniel  R. ;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  18;  arm 

amputated  at  Ox  Hill. 
Lowrance,  F.  A.;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  18;  pr.  to 

Sgt.;  k.  at  Chancellorsville,  May  3,  1863. 
Lowrance,  J.  C. ;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  20. 
McLaughlin,  E.  C. ;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  28;  w. 


546  HISTORY  OF   ROWAX    COUNTY 

McLaughlin,  J.  H. ;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  30;  w. 

at  Ox  Hill ;  w.  at  Sheppardstown. 
McLaughlin,  S.  W. ;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  39. 
McNeely,  James  A.;  en.  May  15,  1863;  a.  29;  d.  of  d. 
McNeely,  James  K. ;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  35 ;  pr. 

to  Cor. ;  pr.  to  Capt. 
McNeely,  J.  R. ;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  24;  k.  at 

Richmond,  July  27,  1862. 
Martin,  J.  S.  A.;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  18;  d.  of 

w.  received  at  Mechanicsville. 
Miller,  Franklin. 

Miller,  J.  A.;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  21  ;  k.  at  Get- 
tysburg. 
Miller,  J.  F. ;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  25  ;  d.  of  d. 
Overcash,  G.  M. ;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  18;  w.  at 

Gettysburg;  w.  at  Wilderness. 
Overcash,  H.  F. ;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  20;  d.  of  d. 

July  II,   1862,  at  Richmond. 
Overcash,  H.  J.;  en.  September  9,  1861  ;  a.  21. 
Overcash,  H.  W. ;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  23. 
Overcash,  John  J. ;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  27 ;  d.  of 

d.  at  High  Point,  N.  C.,  August  28,  1861. 
Overcash,  R.  A.;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  19;  pr.  to 

Cor. ;   w. 
Overcash,  S.  S.;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  20;  d.  of  d. 

August,  1862. 
Parks,  B.  C. ;  en.  September  9,  1861  ;  a.  42. 
Pehel,  Levi ;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  41. 
Pickler,  David;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  17;  d.  of  w. 

received  at  Richmond. 


APPENDIX  24^7 

Seckler,  John  F.;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  40;  d.  of 

w.  received  at  Richmond. 
Sloan,  Junius  J. ;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  25 ;  d.  of  d. 

June,   1862,  at  Richmond. 
Stirewalt,  J.  F.;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  22. 
Torrence,  Samuel ;  d.  of  d. 
Voils,  Jackson;  d.  of  d. 
Waggoner,  Frank. 
Weaver,  John  AI. 
Williford,  James  F. ;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  20;  w. 

at  Richmond. 
\\'imford,  John  A. ;  en.  September  9,  1861 ;  a.  52. 


Company  E 
Privates 
Atwell,  G.  A.;  en.  July  29,  1863;  pr.  to  2d.  Lt. 


THIRTY-FIFTH  REGLMENT 
Company  I 
Privates 
McLaughlin,  J.  H. ;  en.  May  6,  1863 ;  a.  39. 


FORTY-SECOND  REGIMENT 

Company  B 
Officers 
James  R.   Crawford,  Capt. 
A.  B.  Wright,  ist  Lt. 


548  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

Robert  W.  Price,  2d.  Lt. ;  w.  above  Richmond,  Decem- 
ber 10,  1864. 

J.  F.  Dodson,  Jr.  2d.  Lt. 

J.  Smith;  en.  March  10,  1863;  2d.  Sgt. 

W.  P.  Shuford;  en.  January  17,  1862;  3d.  Sgt. 

H.  A.  Harman;  en.  January  27,  1862;  a.  26;  4th.  Sgt.; 
w.  at  Chafin's  Farm. 

R.  C.  Cobb;  en.  January  27,  1862;  Cor. 

Privates 

Beefie,  W.  F. ;  en.  January  27,  1862 ;  a.  24;  k.  at  Peters- 
burg. 

Beeker,  H. ;  en.  January  27,  1862;  a.  22;  pr.  to  4th. 
Cor. 

Blackwelder,  W. ;  en.  January  27,  1862. 

Boyden,  A.  H. ;  det.  as  Courier  for  Maj.-Gen.  R.  F. 
Hoke. 

Brown,  H. ;  en.  January  27,  1862 ;  d.  at  home. 

Burns,  W. ;  en.  January  2y,  1862 ;  w,  at  Kinston. 

Carper,  W.  C. ;  en.  January  2y,  1862. 

Cauble,  Benjamin;  en.  January  27,  1862. 

Cauble,  J.  G. ;  en.  March  11,  1863. 

Cauble,  Mike;  en.  January  27,  1862. 

Cauble,    Samuel;  en.   January  2y,   1862. 

Clark,  J.  C. ;  en.  January  27,  1862;  tr.  to  Thirteenth 
Regiment. 

Clomlinger,  ;  en.  January  27,  1862;  tr.  to  Thir- 
teenth  Regiment,   Company  K. 

Connell,  J.;  en.  January  27,  1862;  k.  at  Petersburg. 

Council,  J.;  en.  January  27,  1862;  k.  at  Petersburg. 

Correll,  J.;  en.  January  27,  1862. 


APPENDIX  549 

Coughenour,  Thomas  A.;  en.  January  27,  1862;  tr. 
to  Regimental   Band. 

Cowan,  B.  F. ;  en.  January  27,  1862;  w.  at  Petersburg. 

Daniel,  W. ;  en.  January  2^,  1862;  k.  at  Bermuda 
Hundred. 

Daniel,  W.  J. 

Dillard,  J. ;  en.  January  2"],  1862. 

Dolin,  A.;  en.  January  2^,  1862;  w.  at  Blackwater. 

Doy,  Daniel. 

Dry,  D. ;  en.  January  2j,  1862. 

Eagle,  P.;  en.  January  2^,  1862;  w.  at  Petersburg. 

Eagle,  W. ;  en.  January  27,  1862. 

Exum,  J.  W. ;  en.  January  27,  1862;  k.  at  Cold  Har- 
bor, May  30,   1864. 

Fesperman,  George;  en.  January  2"],  1862;  d.  at  home, 
1862. 

Fink,  M.;  en.  January  27,  1862. 

Fry,  J.  P.;  en.  January  27,  1862;  w.  at  Petersburg. 

Hambry,  R.  C. ;  en.  January  2^,  1862;  w.  at  Kinston. 

Hess,  George;  en.  January  27,  1862. 

Hess,  Levi;  en.  January  27,  1862. 

House,  D. ;  en.  January  2"/,  1862. 

House,  John;  en.  January  27,  1862. 

House,  Thomas;  en.  January  2"/,  1862;  k.  at  Cold 
Harbor. 

House,  W. ;  en.  January  27,  1862;  w.  at  Bermuda 
Hundred. 

Hunt,  Jason;  en.  January  27,  1862. 

Isenhour,  J.,  Sr. ;  en.  January  27,  1762. 

Isenhour,  J.,  Jr. ;  en.  January  27,  1862 ;  w.  at  Peters- 
burg. 


550  HISTORY   OF  ROWAN   COUNTY 

Kerr,  John;  en.  January  27,  1862;  d.  at  Tarboro. 
Kestler,  H.  A.;  en.  March  10,  1863;  k.  at  Cold  Har- 
bor. 
Kestler,  William  H. ;  w.  at  Bermuda  Hundred. 
Kiser,  J.;  en.  January  27,   1862;  w. 
Knox,  B. ;  en.  January  27,  1862. 

Knox,  T. ;  en.  January  2"],  1862 ;  k.  at  Sheppardsville. 
Love,  W.  H. ;  pr.  Drum-Major  of  Regiment. 

McGhee,  ;  en.  January  27,  1862. 

Martin,  John;  en.  March  10,  1863;  k.  at  Petersburg. 

Miller,  E. ;  en.  January  27,  1862;  w.  at  Richmond. 

Mills,  N.  N.;  en.  January  28,  1862. 

Mills,  C. ;  en.  January  2'j,  1862. 

Montgomery,  James. 

Moore,  A.  C. ;  en.  January  27,  1862;  k.  at  Petersburg. 

Moore,  J.;  en.  January  2'],  1862;  d.  at  home. 

Moore,  S.  J.;  en.  January  2^],  1862. 

Munroe,  Peter. 

Overcash,  Allison. 

Parnell,  W. ;  en.  January  2'j,   1862. 

Pennington,  David. 

Phifer,  D. ;  en.  January  27,  1862;  w.  at  Kinston. 

Phifer,  W. ;  en.  January  27,  1862. 

Phillips,  C. ;  en.  January  27,  1862. 

Pig,  Hugh;  en.  January  27,  1862;  w.  at  Petersburg. 

Pig,  Ris;  en.  January  27,  1862. 

Reese,  C. ;  en.  January  2y,  1862. 

Reese,  W. ;  en.  January  2^,   1862. 

Richie,  M. ;  en.  January  2^,  1862;  k.  at  Kinston. 

Ruff,  J.  C. ;  en.  January  27,  1862. 


APPENDIX  551 

Rumple,  W. ;  en.  January  2^,  1862;  w.  at  Richmond, 

December  10^  1864. 
Sanders,  \V. ;  en.  January  27,   1862. 
Sharp,  R. ;  en.  March   10,  1863. 
Shuford,  A.  L. ;  en.  January  27,  1862 ;  pr.  to  Ord.  Sgt. ; 

w.  at  Petersburg. 
Sipe,  J.;  en.  January  27,  1862;  k.  at  Kinston. 
Smith,  Theodore;  en.  January  2'],   1862;  w.  at  Cold 

Harbor. 
Stillerell,  L. ;  en.  March  10,  1863;  k.  at  Petersburg. 
Stillwell,  L. ;  en.  January  2y,  1862. 
Stoner,  W. ;  en.  March  10,  1863;  w.  at  Kinston. 
Taylor,  L. ;  en.  January  2^,  1862. 
Thompson,  S. ;  en.  January  2^,  1862;  d.  in  Camp. 
Trexler,  B.  C. ;  en.  January  2^,  1862. 
Tucker,  Daniel;  en.  January  27,   1862. 
Tucker,  J.;  en.  January  2'],  1862. 
Wade,  J.;  en.  January  2"],  1862. 
Walton,  Allen. 
Walton,  L.  W. ;  en.  March  10,  1863;  tr.  to  Regimental 

Band. 
Walton,  R. ;  en.  January  2^,  1862;  d.  at  Richmond. 


Company  C 
Privates 

Black,  John;  en.  ^larch  18,  1862;  a.  42;  w.  at  Peters- 
burg. 

Black,  Thomas;  en.  March  i,  1864;  a.  18;  d.  of  d. 
October  i,  1864. 


552  history  of  rowan  county 

Company  D 
Officers 
Joseph  M.  Roark,  Capt. ;  en.  February  28,   1862;  a. 

30. 
Robert  R.  Crawford,  ist.  Lt. ;  en.  February  28,  1862; 

a.  22;  pr.  Capt.  November  25,  1862. 
Leonidas    W.    Crawford,   2d.    Lt. ;    en.    February   28, 

1862;  a.  21 ;  pr.  to  ist.  Lt. ;  c.  at  Cold  Harbor,  June 

3,  1864. 
Edward  A.  Rusher,  2d.  Lt. ;  en.  February  28,   1862; 

a.  30;  k.  at  Petersburg. 

Privates 

Aldmand,  Archibald;  en.  March  15,  1862;  a.  23. 

Barringer,  Henry;  en.  March  24,  1862;  a.  23;  k. 

Basinger,  Henry;  en.  March  11,  1862;  a.  45;  w.  se- 
verely. 

Basinger,  John  G. ;  en.  March  11,  1862;  a.  28. 

Boyer,  Moses;  en.  March  24,  1862;  a.  22;  c.  at  Cold 
Harbor. 

Bradshaw,  Levi ;  en.  March  20,  1862 ;  a.  54. 

Casper,  Munroe;  en.  March  15,  1862;  a.  21. 

Davis,  Martin;  en.  March  24,  1862;  a.  41. 

EUer,  Cornelius;  en.  March  24,  1862;  a.  28;  d.  in 
hospital,  December  25,  1862. 

Eller,  David ;  en.  March  24,  1862 ;  a.  28. 

Eller,  Tobias;  en.  March  24,  1862;  a.  30. 

Fulenwider,  John;  en.  March  18,   1862;  a.  35. 

Hess,  Caleb  A. ;  en.  March  22,  1862 ;  a.  19. 

Hess,  William;  en.  March  22,  1862;  a.  30. 


APPENDIX  553 

Hoffman,  Henry;  en.  :\Iarch  22,  1862;  a.  19. 
Holhouser,  Jeremiah;  en.  March  i,  1862;  a.  18. 
Kestler,  George  B. ;  en.  March  18,  1862;  a.  25. 
Kluttz,   Levi;   en.   March   18,    1862;   a.   36;   d.   of   d. 

]March  10,  1863. 
Koon,  Richard  M. ;  en.  March  18,   1862;  a.   18. 
Loftin,  Lindsay;  en.  :\Iarch  19,  1862;  a.  36. 
Morris,  James;  en.  March  17,  1862;  a.  39. 
Pinkston,  George  \V. ;  en.  March  18,  1862;  a.  62. 
Pinkston,  Matthew  L. ;  en.  March  18,  1862;  a.  35. 
Rainey,  Isaac  A.;  en.   March   18,   1862;  a.   34;  c.  at 

Cold  Harbor;  d.  in  p. 
Sheets,  John;  en.  March  17,  1862;  a.  36;  d.  in  hospital, 

April  26,  1863. 
Shields,  Joseph  P.;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  35. 
Smith,  Michael;  en.  March  4,  1862;  a.  29. 
Trexler,  Henry  A. ;  en  :\Iarch  18,  1862 ;  a.  21. 
Troutman,  W.  G. ;  en.  March  18,  1862;  a.  18;  w.  at 

Butler's  Tower. 
Waller,  Jesse;  en.  March  4,  1862;  a.  49. 
Wilhelm,  William  A.;  en.  March  4,  1862;  a.  22. 


Company  G 
Officers 

James   A.   Blackwelder,   Capt. ;   en.   i\Iarch   15,    1862; 

a.  40. 
Augustus  Leazer,  ist.  Lt. ;  en.  March  15,  1862;  a.  19. 
Henry  W.  A.  Miller,  2d.  Lt. ;  en.  July  i,  1861 ;  a.  21; 

pr.   from  private  in  Company  G,   Sixth  Regiment; 

w.  twice. 


554  HISTORY   OF  ROWAN   COUNTY 

William  L.  Atwell,  2d.  Lt. ;  en.  July  2,   1861 ;  a.  30; 

resigned   August    8,    1862;    re-enlisted    as    private, 

IMarch  15,  1864;  d.  of  d.  August  3,  1864. 
Charles  A.  Miller,  2d.  Lt. ;  en.  ]\Iay  5,   1862 ;  w.  se- 
verely at  Petersburg. 
David  A.  Atwell,  ist.  Sgt. ;  en.  April  11,  1862;  a.  19; 

tr.  from  Company  B. 
John  A.  Hess,  2d.  Sgt.;  en.  ]\Iarch  19,  1862;  a.  2^. 
David  ^I.  Cooper,  3d.  Sgt.;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  29. 
Jacob  J.  Bostian,  4th.  Sgt. ;  en  March  19,  1862 ;  a.  47. 
William  W.  Graham,  5th.  Sgt.;  en.  March  17,  1862; 

a.  23;  k.  at  Petersburg,  July  30,  1864. 
Alphonzo  L.  Atwell,   ist.  Cor.;  en.  ]\Iarch  29,   1861 ; 

a.  21. 
John  C.  Leazer,  2d.  Cor.;  en.  ]\Iarch  29,  1862;  a.  21. 
John  W.  Rumple,  2d.  Cor. ;  en.  ]\Iarch  29,  1862 ;  tr.  to 

Regimental  Band. 
James  F.  Rumple,  3d.  Cor.;  en.  March  29,  1862;  a.  30. 
John  C.  Wilhelm,  4th.  Cor.;  en.  March  29,   1862;  a. 

21  ;  pr.  to  1st.  Cor. 
Jesse  H.  xA.lbright.  Musician;  en.  March  15,  1861 ;  a. 

28;  d.  of  d.  at  Weldon,  N.  C,  March,  1863. 
George   A.    Cooper,   ^Musician ;   en.   March    17,    1862; 

a.  18. 

Privates 

Allman,  Xelson ;  en.  ]\Iay  30,  1862;  a.  17. 
Atwell,  James  A.;  en.  I\Iay  19,  1862;  a.  46. 
Atwell,  John  C. ;  en.  ]\Iay  17,  1862;  a.  21;  d.  of  d.  at 

Lynchburg,  \'a.,  August  15,   1862. 
Atwell,  Joseph  E. ;  en.  January  i,  1864;  a.  18. 


APPENDIX  555 

Atwell,  O.  W. ;  en.  May  19,  1862;  a.  2"]. 
Atwell,  William  A. ;  en.  January  10,  1863 ;  a.  16. 
Baker,  John  M. ;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  21. 
Blackwelder,  Henry  C. ;  en.  March  24,  1862;  a.  18. 
Blackwelder,  S.  T. ;  en.  May  15,  1862;  a.  16. 
Brandy,  William  W. ;  en.  April  25,   1862;  a.  30;  pr. 

to  Cor. ;  pr.  to  Sgt. 
Beaver,  George  F.  S. ;  en.  May  5,  1862;  a.  22. 
Beaver,  Jacob  H.;  en.  November  6,   1862;  a.   18;  k. 

near  Fort  Fisher,  N.  C,  December,  1864. 
Beaver,  Levi  A.;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  32. 
Bostian,  Andrew;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  37. 
Bostian,  Jacob  J.;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  20;  k.  March 

10,  1865. 
Bostian,  James  M. ;  en.  June  6,  1862;  a.  17. 
Bostian,  John  M. ;  en.  October  8,  1862;  a.  18. 
Bostian,  William  AL;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  21. 
Brown,  George  A.;  en.  March  22,  1862;  a.  22. 
Brown,  James  L. ;  en.  May  5,  1862;  a.  18. 
Brown,  John  M. ;  en.  March  22,  1862;  a.  20. 
Brown,  Joseph,  en.  March  27,  1862;  a.  24. 
Brown,  Laurence;  en.  August  25,  1863;  a.  18. 
Brown,  William  L. ;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  26. 
Cleaver,  Daniel  M. ;  en.  March  27,  1862;  a.  16. 
Coburn,  James;  en.  March  19,  1863;  a.  47. 
Cooper,  G.  A. 
Cooper,  Joseph  E.;  en.  March  3,   1864;  a.   18;  k.  at 

Petersburg,  July  10,   1864. 
Correll,  Daniel;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  42. 
Corriher,  Henry  C. ;  en.  March  19,  1863  ;  a.  22 ;  pr.  to 

Sgt. 


556  HISTORY   OF  ROWAN   COUNTY 

Corriher,  James  F. ;  en.  March  19,  1863;  a.  19;  pr.  to 

Cor. 
Corriher,  Thomas  W. ;  en.  -March  19,  1862  ;  a.  22. 
Deal,  Alex. ;  en.  March  19,  1862 ;  a.  33. 
Deal,  David;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  32. 
Deal,  FrankHn  W. ;  en.  ]\Iarch  19,  1862;  a.  28;  d.  of 

w.  received  at  Petersburg,  July  30,   1864. 
Deal,  Jacob,  Sr. ;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  49. 
Deal,  Jacob,  Jr.;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  25;  d.  of  d. 

1864. 
Deal,  John  A.;  en.  December  24,  1862;  a.  18;  k.  Octo- 
ber 9,  1863,  by  accident  on  W.  &  W.  Railroad. 
Deal,  John  L. ;  en.  April  10,  1863 ;  a.  37. 
Deal,  Samuel;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  30. 
Deal,  W.  A.;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  33. 
Deal,  WilHam  E. ;  en.  May  i,  1862;  a.  31. 
Felcher,  Archibald  W. ;  en.  February  2,  1863 ;  a.  37. 
Fesperman,   Frederick;   d.   of   d.   at  Lynchburg,  Va., 

1862. 
Fesperman,  John  A.;  en.  September  14,  1863;  a.  18. 
Fesperman,  John  M. ;  en.  ]\Iarch,  1862;  a.  18;  d.  of  d. 

at  Lynchburg,  June  28,  1862. 
Fonts,  James  S. ;  en.  November  3,  1862;  a.  18;  d.  July 

24,  1864,  of  w.  received  at  Petersburg. 
Fouts,  John  D. ;  en.  ]\Iarch  19,  1862;  a.  20. 
Fonts,  William  H. ;  en.  ]\Iarch  19,  1862;  a.  21;  pr.  to 

Cor. 
Freeland,  William  R. ;  en.  December  24,  1862  ;  a.  18. 
Freeze,  Caleb  M. ;  en.  ]\Iarch  19,  1862;  a.  28. 
Freeze,  Henry  E. ;  en.  ]\larch  19,  1862;  a.  30. 
Freeze,  Ivel  J.;  en.  March  21,  1862;  a.  24. 


APPENDIX  557 

Garver,  L.  B.;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  19. 

Hampton,  David  A.;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  20. 

Hampton,  John  W. ;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  22. 

Karriker,  Jacob  L. ;  en.  May,  1863;  a.  32;  k.  June  18, 
1864,  at  Petersburg. 

Karriker,  Jacob  P.;  en.  March  17,  1862;  a.  19;  k.  June 
18,  1864,  at  Petersburg. 

Karriker,  John  A.;  en.  March  3,  1864;  a.  18. 

Karriker,  William  A.;  en.  March  17,  1862;  a.  21. 

Kluttz,  Alex.;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  25;  d.  of  d.  at 
Richmond,  August  25,  1864. 

Kluttz,  Jesse  A.;  en.  August  25,  1863;  a.  18. 

Lawrence,  David  A. ;  en.  August  14,  1863 :  a.  18. 

Leazer,  David  M.;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  28. 

Leazer,  James  W. ;  en.  May  12,  1862;  a.  37. 

Leazer,  Wilham  F. ;  en.  March  ig,  1862;  a.  21;  d. 
September  21,  of  w.  received  at  Petersburg. 

Leazer,  William  H. ;  en.  May  i,  1862 ;  a.  26 ;  k.  at  New- 
port Barracks,  February  2,   1864. 

Lipe,  E.  J.;  en.  April  10,  1863;  a.  26. 

Lipe,  Jacob  S.;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  25;  pr.  to  Cor. 

Lipe,  WilHam  A. ;  en.  July  8,  1862 ;  a.  28;  w.  at  Peters- 
burg twice. 

Lippard,  John  T. ;  en.  May,  1862;  a.  25. 

Litaker,  Wilham  R. ;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  38. 

Lynch,  Andrew  J.;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  32;  d.  of 
d.  July  13,  1864,  at  Petersburg. 

Martin,  Levi  A.  C. ;  en.  August  17,  1862;  a.  18. 

Miller,  Andrew  A.;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  19. 

Miller,  John  D. ;  en.  August  14,  1863;  a.  18. 


558  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

Miller,  Samuel  A.;  en.  July  27,  1863;  a.  18;  d.  of  d. 

at  Goldsboro,  X.  C,  October  10,  1864. 
Overcash,  George  F. ;  en.  August  14,  1863;  a.  18. 
Overcash,  Samuel;  en.  IMarch  19,  1862;  a.  2']. 
Overcash,  Solomon  W. ;  en.  May  10,  1862;  a.  28. 
Pechel,  A.  J.;  en.  October  17,  1863;  a.  18. 
Pechel,  F.  ]\I. ;  en.  ]\Iarch  19,  1862;  a.  37;  d.  of  d.  at 

Petersburg,  September,  1862. 
Pechel,  John;  en.  March   19,   1862;  a.  45. 
Pechel,  Solomon;  en.  I\Iarch   19,  1862;  a.  35. 
Rhimer,  Thomas  H.;  en.  ]\Iarch  19,  1862;  a.  24. 
Richey,  John  D. ;  en.  ]\Iarch  3,  1864;  a.  18. 
Richey,  John  R. ;  en.  March  3,  1864;  a.  18 
Ridding,  Rufus  M. ;  en.  February  20,  1863;  a.  37;  d. 

of  d.  at  Goldsboro,  N.  C.,,  July  31,  1863. 
Rogers,  George  R. ;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  34. 
Rogers,  Jeremiah ;  en.  March  19,  1862 ;  a.  20. 
Rose,  John  A.;  en.  April  24,  1862;  a.  29;  severely  w. 

at  Petersburg. 
Sechler,  James   P.;  en.   ]\Iarch   22,    1862;   a.   33;   se- 
verely w.  at  Petersburg,  July  8,  1864. 
Shulinbarger,  J.  L. ;  en.  August  14,  1863;  a.  19. 
Shuping,  Absalom  A.;  en.  April  2,  1862;  a.  28;  d.  of 

d.  August  13,  1864,  at  Petersburg. 
Shuping,  Andrew  F. ;  en.  April  5,  1862;  a.  22. 
Sloop,  Henry  O.,  Sr. ;  en.  March  19,  1862 ;  a.  32. 
Sloop,  Henry  O.,  Jr.;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  18;  w.  at 

Petersburg. 
Smith,  Henry  C.;  en.  ]\Iarch  19,  1862;  a.  19. 
Smith,  John  W. ;  en.  Alarch  19,  1862;  a.  33. 
Smith,  Joseph  \\'. ;  en.  July  27,  1863  ;  a.  18. 


APPENDIX  559 

Smith,  Samuel;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  32;  d.  of  d.  at 

Kinston,  X.  C,   September   14,   1863. 
Smith,  Thomas  H. ;  en.  March  ig,  1862 ;  a.  32. 
Upright,  W'ilHam ;  en.  April  2,  1862 ;  a.  32. 
Walcher,  James  L. ;  en.  ^larch  19,  1862;  a.  20. 
Yost,  F.  ^I. ;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  30;  d.  of  d.  ^lay, 

1862,  at  Salisbury,  N.  C. 


FORTY-FIFTH  REGIMENT 

Company  K 

Officers 

M.  B.  Hemphill,  4th.  Cor.;  en.  ]\Iay  10,  1862;  a.  26; 

pr.  to  2d.  Cor. 


FORTY-SIXTH  REGIMENT 

Company  A 

Privates 

Buchanan,  John;  en.  April  15,  1863;  a.  39. 

Cole,  J.  \y.;  en.  April  15,  1863;  a.  19;  k.  at  Peters- 
burg. 

Davis,  James;  en.  April  23,  1863;  a.  40. 

Glover,  Charles;  en.  April   15,   1863;  a.  32. 

Glover,  R.  J.;  en.  April  15,  1863;  a.  20. 

Goodman,  Christopher;  en.  April  15,  1863;  a.  38;  d. 
of  d.  at  home. 

Hill,  J.  L. ;  en.  April  15,  1863;  a.  39;  k.  at  \\'ilder- 
ness. 

Hodge,    Richard;    en.    April    15,    1863;    a.    39;   c.    at 
Petersburg,  ^larch,  1865. 


560  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

Leonard,  William;  en.  April  15,  1863;  a.  39. 
Mahaley,  Charles;  en.  April  15,  1863;  a.  37. 
Mahaley,  Lawrence;  en.  April  15,  1863;  a.  38. 
Mesimor,  Bedford;  en.  April  15,  1863;  a.  36. 
Overcash,  Alex. ;  en.  April  18,  1863 ;  a.  30. 
Overcash,  J.  J.;  en.  April  18,  1863;  a.  37. 
Overcash,  J.  W. ;  en,  April  15,  1863;  a.  35. 
Penninger,  Paul;  en.  April  30,  1863;  c. 
Rhymer,  D.  A.;  en.  April  15,  1863;  a.  37. 
Ritchie,  John;  en.  April  15,  1863;  a.  36;  w. 
Sides,  Levi;  en.  April  15,  1863;  a.  37;  c. 
Summers,  James;  en.  April  15,   1863. 
Ward,  B.  F. ;  en.  April  15,  1863;  a.  34. 
Wyatt,  R.  H. ;  en.  April  15,  1863;  a.  28;  w.  at  Wilder- 
ness. 


Company 


Officers 

William  L.  Saunders,  Capt. ;  a.  26;  pr.  to  !Major  Octo- 
ber I,  1862;  pr.  to  Lt.-Col.  January  i,  1863;  pr. 
to  Col.  January  i,  1864;  w.  at  Fredericksburg. 

Nathan  N.  Fleming,  ist.  Lt. ;  en.  April  3,  1862;  a.  36; 
pr.  to  Capt.  October  i,  1862;  w.  at  Sharpsburg;  k. 
May  5,  1864,  at  Wilderness. 

George  Horah,  2d.  Lt. ;  a.  20;  pr.  ist.  Lt.  ^larch  20, 
1863  5  k.  May  5,   1864. 

William  B.  A.  Lowrance,  ist.  Sgt. ;  en.  May  19,  1862; 
a.  20;  pr.  2d.  Lt.  October  7,  1862 ;  was  in  Old  Bethel 
Regiment. 


APPENDIX  561 

John  J.  Stewart,  2d.  Sgt. ;  en.  May  19,  1862;  a.  23;  pr. 

to  1st.  Sgt.  October  7,   1862;  pr.  to  2d.  Lt.  April 

6,   1863. 
Jacob  Kluttz,  3d.  Sgt.;  en.  May  19,  1862;  a.  36;  pr. 

to  2d.  Sgt.;  pr.  to  ist.  Sgt. 
L.  G.  Holhouser,  4th.  Sgt.;  en.  February  13,  1862;  a. 

24;  pr.  3d.  Sgt.;  pr.  2d.  Sgt. 
John  F.  Agner,  5th.  Sgt.;  en.  May  19,  1862;  a.  29; 

arm  amputated  at  Wilderness. 
Charles  G.   Harryman,    ist.    Cor.;   en.   December  20, 

1862 ;  a.  33 ;  pr.  4th.  Sgt. ;  pr.  3d.  Sgt. ;  w.  at  Wilder- 
ness. 
Benjamin  Holhouser,  2d.  Cor.;  en.  February  29,  1862; 

a.  23 ;  pr.  to  5th.  Sgt. ;  d.  of  d.  November  17,  1862. 
A.  Calib  Basinger,  3d.  Cor.;  en.  May  19,  1862;  a.  34; 

pr.  ist.  Cor.;  pr.  5th.  Sgt. 

Privates 

Barger,  A.;  en.  April  13,  1862;  a.  40. 

Barringer,  A.  M. ;  en.  April  13,  1863;  a.  37;  w. 

Basinger,  Eli. 

Basinger,  George;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  44;  d.  of  w. 

received  at  Wilderness,  May  5,  1864. 
Basinger,  Joe;  en.  February  15,  1862;  a.  17;  d.  of  w. 
Basinger,  Munroe;  en.  April  13,  1863;  a.  39. 
Beaver,  Jesse,  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  35. 
Beaver,   John  P.;  en.  March   19,   1862;   a.   25;  k.  at 

Wilderness,  May  5,  1864. 
Bost,   John  J.;   en.   ]\Iarch  22,   1862;   a.   20;  missing 

since  September  7,  1862. 
Bost,  Moses  A. 


562  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

Best,  W.  H.;  en.  March  18,  1862;  a.  19. 

Brandon,  R.  A. 

Brown,  John  D.  A.;  en.  March  20,  1862;  a.  23. 

Canup,  David  S.;  en.  IMarch  19,  1862;  a.  28. 

Canup,  John;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  18;  d.  of  d.  at 
home,  November  24,  1862. 

Canup,  Wiley. 

Chandler,  David;  en.  April  8,  1862;  a.  37. 

Crawford,  P.  C. ;  en.  April  7,  1862;  a.  24. 

Dunn,  William;  en.  March  20,  1862;  a.  30;  c. 

Earnhardt,  Eli;  en.  February  19,  1862;  a.  23;  d.  of  d. 
at  Petersburg,  June  30,   1862. 

Eagle,  David;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  35. 

Frieze,  David. 

Gardner,  James;  en.  April  13,  1862;  a.  38. 

Goodman,  George;  en.  March  15,  1862;  a.  30. 

Grady,  James;  en.  March  i,  1862;  a.  40;  d.  at  Drew- 
ry's  Bluff,  January  16,  1862. 

Grady,  William;  en.  April  i,  1862;  a.  18. 

Guhn,  Abner  H. ;  en.  March  15,  1862;  a.  30. 

Guhn,  Milas;  en.  April  13,  1863;  a.  40;  d.  of  d.  Febru- 
ary, 1865. 

Harkey,  Christopher;  en.  ]\Iarch  19,  1862;  a.  50;  h.  d. 

Heilig,  Green. 

Holhouser,  A.  M. 

Holhouser,  F.  M. 

Holhouser,  James;  en.  April  13,  1863;  a.  37. 

Holhouser,  J.  R. ;  en.  IMarch  26,  1862;  a.  26;  d.  of  d. 
IMarch  2,  1863. 

Holhouser,  Paul. 


APPENDIX  563 

Holhouser,  W.  P.;  en.  May  6,  1862;  a.   19;  d.  of  d. 

June  4,  1862. 
Honbarger,  Eli;  en.  April  13,  1863;  a.  26. 
Honbarger,  Jacob;  en.  April  13,  1863;  a.  18. 
Horah,  Rowan;  en.  March  13,  1862;  a.  24;  h.  d. 
Hurley,  James  O. ;  en.  March  15,  1862;  a.  22. 
Johnson,  WiUiam ;  en.  April  13,  1863;  a.  28;  d.  of  d. 

1863. 

Kluttz,  Jeremiah;  en.  April  13,  1863;  a.  22. 

Kluttz,    Tobias;    en.    March    19,    1862;    a.    36;   k.    at 

Fredericksburg. 
Linn,  Thomas  I. 
Lyerly,  Jesse. 
Lyerly,  Martin;  d.  of  d. 
Mahew,  Newton;  en.  May  19,  1862;  arm  amputated  at 

Wilderness. 
Miller,  A.  W. ;  en.  April  13,  1863;  a.  34. 
Miller,  Daniel;  k. 

Miller,  David;  en.  May  13,  1862;  a.  38;  d.  of  d. 
Miller,  John;  en.  April  13,  1863;  a.  40. 
Miller,  John  D. 

Miller,  John  Eli;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  36. 
Miller,  Levi;  en.  April  13,  1863;  a.  36. 
Misenheimer,  C.  A.;  en.  April  13,  1863;  a.  36. 
Newman,  James  A.;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  25;  d.  of 

d.  at  Drewry's  Blufif,  June  20,  1862. 
Newman,  J.  P.;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  23;  d.  of  d.  at 

Goldsboro,  N.  C,  June  7,  1863. 
Owens,  H.  C. ;  en.  April  22,  1862;  a.  20;  w.  in  three 

battles. 
Parks,  D.  ]\L ;  en.  April  13,  1863;  a.  30. 


564  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

Peeler,  Munroe;  en.  March  19,  1863;  a.  33;  d.  of  d. 
Penninger,  Tobias;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  36. 
Phipps,  A.  A.;  en.  April  13,  1863;  a.  36;  h.  d. 
Pigg,  Hugh;  en.  ^larch  22,  1863;  a.  17. 
Pless,  John  L.  A.;  en.  April   13,   1863;  a.   18;  k,  at 

Wilderness,  May  5,  1864. 
Powlas,  Moses  C. ;  en.  March  19,  1863;  a.   18;  k.  at 

Wilderness,  May  5,  1864. 
Propst,  Valentine. 

Rimer,  David;  en.  April  13,  1863;  a.  38;  d.  of  d. 
Rogers,  William. 

Rumple,  P.  A.;  en.  April  13,  1863;  k. 
Seaford,  Eli ;  k. 
Seaford,  Henry. 

Shuping,  Mike;  en.  April  13.  1863;  a.  21. 
Sides,  R.  A.;  en.  April  13,  1863;  a.  22. 
Sloop,  Abram;  en.  April  13,  1863;  a.  36;  w.  at  South 

Anna  Bridge. 
Stiller,  WilHam;  en.  March  19,  1863;  a.  24. 
Trexler,  Adam;  k.  at  Hatcher's  Run,  1865. 
Trexler,   Rufus,   en.    ^larch    11,    1863;   a.   22\  w.   at 

South  Anna  Bridge. 
Waggoner,  C.  A.;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  23. 
Waller,  Frederick;  en.  April  13,  1863;  a.  38. 
Waller,  George;  en.  April  13,   1863;  a.  36;  d.  of  d. 

1864. 
Waller,  Jacob,  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  35. 
Waller,  John;   en.   IMarch   11,   1862;   a.  36;   d.   of  d. 

1864. 
W^alton,   B.  T. ;  en.  April   13,   1863;  a.  40;   d.  of   d. 

September  22,  1863. 


APPENDIX  565 

Weaver,  George  M. ;  en.  April  13,  1863 ;  a.  38. 
West,  Thomas  W. ;  en.  ]\Iarch  31,  1862;  a.  36. 
Wilhelm,  W.  L. ;  en.  April  13,  1863;  a.  37. 
Williams,  ^M. ;  en.  April  13,  1863;  a.  38;  d.  of  d. 
Wise,   Benjamin;  en.   March   18,    1862;   a.   23;  k.   at 

Wilderness,  May  5,  1864. 
^^'^ise,  Pleasant. 
Woods,  J.  B.;  en.  April  13,  1863;  a.  40;  d.  of  d.  at 

Lynchburg,    1863. 
Wyatt,   R.   R. 
Wyatt,  \Vilson  M.  J.;  en.  March  15,  1862;  a.  20. 


FORTY-SEVEXTH  REGIMENT 

Company  H 

Privates 

Elliot,  S.  L. ;  en.  October  17,  1862;  a.  18. 

Frieze,  Jacob;  en.  October  17,  1862;  a.  38;  w.  at  Get- 
tysburg. 

Shuford,  F. ;  en.  October  ly,  1862;  a.  25;  d.  of  d. 
November,  1863. 


FORTY-EIGHTH  REGIMENT 

Company  A 

Officers 

Thomas  J.  \\'itherspoon,   ist.  Lt. ;  en.  May,   1861 ;  a. 
22;  k.  at  Sharpsburg,  September  17,  1862. 


566  history  of  rowan  county 

Company  C 
Privates 
Elliott,  W.  A.;  en.  Alarch  19,  1862;  w. 


FORTY-NINTH   REGHIENT 

Company  C 

Officers 

P.  B.  Chambers,  Capt. ;  pr.  to  ]\Iajor;  resigned. 
Henry  A.  Chambers ;  pr.  to  Capt.  from  Fourth  Regi- 
ment. 
Giles  Bowers,  ist.  Lt. ;  en.  Alarch  13,  1862;  a.  41. 
Charles  C.  Krider,  2d.  Lt. ;  en.  ]\Iarch  19,  1862 ;  a.  27 ; 

leg  amputated  at  Petersburg,  March  25,  1865. 
James  T.  Ray,  ist.  Sgt. ;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  26. 
A.  F.  Ludwick,  2d.  Sgt.;  en.  j\Iarch  18,  1862;  a.  32; 

d.  of  d.  May  14,  1862. 
Thomas  F.  Robinson,  3d.   Sgt.;  en.  Alarch  19,  1862; 

a.  31. 
M.  A.  Noah,  4th.  Sgt.;  en.  March  24,  1862;  a.  23;  k. 

at  Malvern  Hill,  July  i,  1862. 
Munroe  Barger,  5th.  Sgt.;  en.  IMarch  19,  1862;  a.  33. 
F.  H.  Mauney,  ist.  Cor.;  en.  April  9,  1862:  a.  16;  w. 

at  Petersburg  and  ^^'eldon  Railroad. 
James  F.  Watson,  2d.  Cor.;  en.  ]\Iarch   19,   1862;  a. 

22;  d.  of  d.  July  10,  1862. 
Simeon  W.  Hatley,  3d.  Cor.;  en.  ]March  18,  1862;  a. 

26;  d.  of  d.  July  2,  1862. 
Julius  A.  Lylerly,  4th.  Cor.;  en.  ]^Iarch  19,  1862;  tr. 

to   Petersburg  and  \\'eldon  Railroad. 


APPENDIX  567 

Privates 

Albright,  George;  en.  September  24,  1863;  a.  40. 

Albright,  Mike. 

Bailey,  Daniel;  en.  March  18,  1862;  a.  37. 

Barber,  John  R. ;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  24;  d.  of  d. 

Barger,  Jacob  A.;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  26. 

Beeker,  Philip  S. ;  en.  ]\Iarch  18,  1862;  a.  32;  d.  of  d. 

at  Front  Royal,  November  20,  1862. 
Benson,   Samuel;  en.   March   18,   1862;  a.  25;  w.  at 

Bermuda  Hundred,  May  20,  1864. 
Bunn,  J.  C. ;  en.  March  18,  1862;  a.  31. 
Chambers,  R.  M.;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  22;  d.  of  d. 

April  23,  1863. 
Cole,   James   B. ;  en.   March  24,    1862;   a.    19;   w.   at 

Petersburg. 
Cook,  Thomas  M. ;  en.  ^larch  19,  1862;  a.  34;  k.  at 

Petersburg. 
Cress,  Lawson;  en,  September  23,  1863;  a.  21 ;  k.  at 

Drewry's  Bluff,  May  16,  1864. 
Daniel,  Wiley  B. ;  en.  March  18,   1862;  a.  24;  k.  at 

Drewry's  Bluff,  May  16,  1864. 
Earnhardt,  Moses  G. ;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  26. 
Elliot,  JuHus  A.;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  23. 
Felker,  William;  en.  March  ig,  1862;  k.  at  Drewry's 

Bluff,  May  16,  1864. 

Finch, ;  d.  of  d. 

Frieze,  Jacob;  en.  ^larch  19,  1862;  a.  24;  k.  at  Peters- 

burg. 
GalHmore,  W.  B. ;  en.  July  7,  1862;  a,  17;  k.  at  Sharps- 
burg,  September  16,  1862. 


568  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

Geisler,  John;  en.  March   15,  1862;  a.  40;  pr.  to  2d. 

Sgt. ;  k.  at  Weldon  Railroad. 
Gillean,  John  N. ;  en.  July  7,   1862;  a.  29;   d.  of  d. 

November,  1862. 
Graham,  H.  C.;  en.  April   12,   1862;  a.   18;  d.  of  d. 

October  11,  1862. 
Graham,  Joseph  C.;  en.  September  23,  1863;  a.  40. 
Graham,  Richard  S. ;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  25;  d.  of 

d.  August   15,   1862. 
Hall,  Thomas  F. ;  en.  April  29,  1862 ;  a.  30. 
Harkey,   Milas ;   en.    March   24,    1862;   a.    21;   w.   at 

Petersburg. 
Harrison,  B.  A.;  en.  March  25,  1862;  a.  39;  h.  d. 
Hartman,  John  B. ;  en.  March  22,  1862;  a.  21. 
Henly,  John  D. ;  en.  April  4,  1862;  a.  49. 
Hill,  WiUiam  J.;  en.   March   19,   1862;  a.   45;  k.   at 

Petersburg. 
Hoffman,  Atlas ;  en.  March  19,  1862 ;  a.  22 ;  d.  of  d. 

May  23,  1862. 
Holhouser,  John;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  19;  d.  of  d. 

May  10,  1862. 
Johnson,  W^illiam ;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  21. 

Jordan,  ;  k.  at  Petersburg. 

Kern,  Daniel;  en.  March  21,  1862;  a.  21. 
Ketchey,  Noah. 
Lentz,  Caleb. 

Lentz,  EH  C. ;  en.  March  22,  1862 ;  a.  25. 
Link,  James  M. ;  en.  March  22,  1862;  a.  28. 
Lyerly,  Alex. ;  Regimental  Colorbearer. 
Lyerly,  Isaac;  en.  July  7,  1862;  a.  24. 
McCandless,  D.  A. ;  en.  September  9,  1863 ;  a.  18. 


APPENDIX  569 

McCandless,  James. 

McCarn,  George  W. ;  en.  March  18,  1862;  a.  20;  w.  at 

Malvern  Hill. 
Mask,    Marion;   en.    IMarch    19,    1862;   a.    28;   k.    at 

Petersburg. 
Menis,  Andrew;  en.  September  23,  1863;  a.  49. 
Menis,  James  F. ;  en.  March  9,  1862;  a.  22;  d.  of  d. 

December,   1862. 
Mesamor,  George  W. ;  en.  March  20,  1862;  a.  19. 
Miller,  Alex.  M. ;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  33. 
Miller,  James;  en.  September  23,  1863;  a.  36;  d.  of  d. 
Nash,  Abraham;  en.  March  15,  1862;  a.  34. 
Nash,  Wylie  A.;  en.  April  15,  1862;  a.  32. 
Plummer,  Matthew;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  24. 
Powlas,  Jesse. 

Ratts,  B.  R. ;  en.  September  23,  1863;  a.  44. 
Rice,  Joseph  A.;  en.  April  18,  1863;  a.  22;  d.  of  d. 
Rice,  William  G. ;  en.  September  16,  1863 ;  a.  18. 
Ritchie,  George  M. ;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  32;  k.  at 

Petersburg. 
Robinson,  James  H. ;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  28;  w.  at 

Petersburg. 
Rogers,  Henry  H. ;  en.  September  23,  1863;  a.  18. 
Shaver,  Alvin  W. ;  pr.  to  Cor. 
Shuping,   Andrew. 
Sides,   Ransom;    en.    March    18,    1862;    a.    31;   k.    at 

Petersburg. 
Skeen,  Jesse;  en.  March  18,  1862;  a.  29. 
Smith,  John  C.;  en.   May   11,   1862;  a.   18;  d.  of  d. 

March  26,  1862. 


5/0  HISTORY   OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

Stikeleather,   John   McC. ;    en.    September   23,    1863; 

a.  22. 
Stone,  R.  A.;  en.  March  24,  1862;  a.  24;  pr.  to  Cor. 
Stone,  Robert. 
Summers,   John. 

Terrell,  John;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  27. 
Thomas,   James;  en.   March    19,    1862;   a.   32;   k.   at 

Petersburg. 
Thomason,  William  A.;  en.  April  18,  1863;  a.  31;  w. 

at  Petersburg. 
Thompson,  Benjamin  T. ;  en.  July  7,  1862;  a.  20. 
Thompson,  John  N.,  Sr. ;  en.  March  10,  1862;  a.  26; 

pr.  to  ist.  Sgt.  1862;  pr.  to  2d.  Lt.,  December  29, 

1862. 
Thompson,  John  N.,  Jr.;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  18; 

k.  at  Malvern  Hill,  July  i,  1862. 
Thompson,  Thomas  L. ;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  26. 
Thompson,  William  A,;  en.  March   16,   1862;  a.  31; 

w.  at  Petersburg. 
Thompson,  WilHam  H. ;  en.  Alarch  18,  1862;  a.  22;  pr. 

to   4th.    Cor.,   December   25,    1862;   k.    at    Weldon 

Railroad,   1864. 
Troutman,  T. 
\\'atson,  D.  F. 
Watson,  James  F. ;  d.  of  d. 
Watson,  John  B. ;  en.  March   19,   1862;  a.  20;  k.  at 

IMalvern  Hill,  July  i,  1862. 
Watson,  Thomas  T. ;  en.  March  19,  1862;  a.  19;  k.  at 

IMalvern  Hill,  July   i,   1862. 
W'illiams,  John  C;  en.  ]\Iarch  18,  1862;  a.  21;  d.  of 

w.  received  at  Malvern  Hill. 


APPENDIX  571 

\\'ise,  Alexander. 

Wise,   Edward;   en.    ^larch    19,    1862;   a.    32;   w.   at 

IMalvern  Hill. 
Yontz,  Julius. 


FIFTY-SECOND  REGIMENT 
Company  K 
Privates 
Padget,  Marble  S. ;  en.  October  8,  1862;  a.  25. 


FIFTY-SE\'ENTH   REGIMENT 

Company  A 

Officers 

William  H.  Howard,  Capt. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  34. 

\\'illiam  C.  Lord,  Capt. ;  a.  20 ;  pr.  from  Seventh  Regi- 
ment; d.  of  w.  received  at  Fredericksburg. 

A.  E.  Temple,  Capt.;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  24;  w.  at 
Fredericksburg, 

Abner  L.  Cranford,  ist.  Lt. ;  en.  July  4,  1862,  a.  21 ; 
d.  of  d.  July  2,  1863. 

James  H.  Sloan,  2d.  Lt. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  23;  d.  of 
d.  July  8,  1863. 

John  H.  Hall,  ist.  Sgt. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  21. 

James  A.  Houston,  2d.  Sgt.;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  44; 
d.  of  w.  received  at  Fredericksburg. 

Stephen  W.  Miller,  4th.  Sgt.;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  23; 
d.  of  d.  January  20,  1863. 

W.  C.  Correll.  5th.  Sgt.;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  2"/. 


572  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN    COUNTY 

J.  W.  Thompson,  2d.  Cor.;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  25; 

w.  at  Fredericksburg. 
H,  G.  Cranford,  3d.  Cor.;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  20. 
R.  E.  Beaver,  Alusician;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  24;  w.  at 

Fredericksburg. 
J.  W.  Winders,  Musician;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  26;  w. 

at  Fredericksburg. 

Privates 

Beaver,  A.  A.;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  26. 

Brawley,  W.  B.;  en.  July  3,  1862;  a.  19;  d.  of  d. 
February  26,  1863. 

Boger,  J.  W. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  20;  d.  of  d.  Novem- 
ber 10,  1862. 

Boger,  R.  A.;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  20. 

Casper,  D. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  34. 

Deal,  A.;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  18. 

Deal,  L.  A. ;  en.  July  4,  1862 ;  a.  27. 

Emery,  W.  W. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  37. 

Fisher,  J.  R. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  24;  w.  at  Fredericks- 
burg at  First  and  Second  Battles. 

Graham,  J.  W. ;  en.  July  4,   1862;  a.  27. 

Graham,  W. ;  en.  July  4,  1862 ;  a.  29. 

Harrison,  R. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  30. 

Hodges,  J.  C. ;  en.  July  4,  1862 ;  a.  23. 

Hodges,  J.  H. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  25. 

Johnson,  J.  D. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  19;  d.  of  d.  March 
16,  1863. 

Josey,  L. ;  en.  July  4,  1862 ;  a.  28 ;  w.  at  Second  Fred- 
ericksburg. 

Josey,  T. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  31. 


APPENDIX  573 

Ketchey,  J.  L. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  24. 

Kilpatrick,  L.  W. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  21 ;  k.  at  Gettys- 
burg. 

Kluttz,  A.  L. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  24. 

Kluttz,  C.  F. ;  en.  July  4,  1862 ;  a.  22 ;  w.  at  Fredericks- 
burg, First  and  Second  Battles. 

Lyerly,  H. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  30;  k.  at  Second 
Fredericksburg. 

McNeely,  S.  A.;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  29. 

Menis,  J.  C. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  26. 

Miller,  D.  A.;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  23. 

Miller,  J.  C. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  21. 

Miller,  J.  R.;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  22;  k.  at  Fredericks- 
burg, December  13,  1862. 

Miller,  J.  W. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  21;  d.  of  d.  Feb- 
ruary, 1863. 

Moore,  C. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  29. 

Patton,  J.  M.;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  33. 

Phillips,  J.  L. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  28. 

Ritchie,  G.  W. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  26. 

Ritchie,  J.;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  29;  w.  at  Fredericks- 
burg. 

Ritchie,  P.  A. ;  en.  July  4,  1862 ;  a.  32. 

Rufty,  W. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  26. 

Rusher,  A.  W. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  28;  w.  at  Gettys- 
burg. 

Shoff,  J.  C.;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  22. 

Shoff,  O.  H. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  19;  w.  at  Fredericks- 
burg. 

Shuping,  A.  A. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  28. 

Shuping,  W.  M. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  26. 


574  HISTORY  OF  ROWAN   COUNTY 

Stiller,  J.  M.;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  26. 
Walton,  M.  J.;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  30. 
Wilhelm,  M.  S. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  26. 
Wise,  W.  A. ;  en.  July  4,  1862 ;  a.  25  ;  w.  at  Fredericks- 
burg. 


Company  C 

Officers 

John  Beard,  Capt. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  28. 

F.  M.  Graham,  ist  Lt. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  33;  k.  at 

Harper's  Ferry,  July  5,  1862. 
J.  W.  Miller,  2d.  Lt. ;  en.  July  4,  1862 ;  a.  32 ;  pr.  Capt., 

in  Company  E;  c  March  6,  1863. 
H.  D.  Verble,  2d.  Lt. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  31;  c.  at 

Rappahannock  Railroad  Bridge,  November  6,  1863. 
A.  M.  A.  Kluttz,  ist.  Sgt. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  26;  d. 

of  d.  February  24,  1863. 
Paul  Peeler,  2d.  Sgt.;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  29;  w.  at 

Chancellorsville. 
Jacob  J.  Albright,  3d.  Sgt.;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  32;  c. 

November  6,  1863. 
James  S.  Graham,  4th.  Sgt.;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  25; 

k.  May  3,   1863,  at  Chancellorsville. 
Cranford  Holhouser,  5th.  Sgt.;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  28; 

d.  of  d.  October  19,  1862. 
Albert  Miller,  ist.  Cor. ;  en.  July  4,  1862 ;  a.  28 ;  d.  of  d. 
Alex   Peeler,   2d.   Cor.;   en.   July  4,    1862;   a.   26;   c. 

November  6,  1863. 
Lucius  P.  Wade,  3d.  Cor.;  en.  July  4,   1862;  a.  21 ; 

k.  at  Fredericksburg,  December  13,  1862. 


APPENDIX  575 

John  M.  Cowan,  4th.  Cor.;  en.  July  4,   1862;  a.  20; 
c.  November  6^  1863. 

Privates 

Albright,  Peter,  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  33;  c.  November 
6,  1863. 

Albright,   Peter  R. ;   en.   July  4,   1862;  a.   30;   w.   at 
Gettysburg. 

Albright,  William  M. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  32;  d.  of  w. 
received  at  Fredericksburg. 

Baker,  H.  J.;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  32;  c.  November 
6,   1863. 

Barringer,  E.  J.;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  20. 

Basinger,  John;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  33;  d.  of  d. 

Beaver,  Alex. ;  en.  July  4,  1862 ;  a.  30;  w.  at  Fredericks- 
burg; d.  April   10,   1863. 

Beaver,  Cranford;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  28;  c.  Novem- 
ber 6,  1863. 

Beaver,  J.  ]\L ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  32. 

Beaver,  Tobias;  en.  July  4,   1862;  a.  29;  missing  at 
Chancellorsville. 

Blackwell,  George;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  20;  d.  of  w. 
received  at  Chancellorsville. 

Blackwell,  John;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  30;  w.  at  Gettys- 
burg. 

Bostian,  D.  M.;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  23;  c.  November 
6,  1863. 

Bostian,  J.  A.;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  26;  d.  of  d. 

Brown,  Allen;   en.  July  4,   1862;   a.    18;  k. 

Brown,  Nathan;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  25;  c.  November 
6,  1863. 


576  HISTORY  OF   ROWAN   COUNTY 

Burgess,  A.  A.;  en.  September  15,  1863;  a.  51 ;  d.  of  d. 

Carriker,  L.  B. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  18. 

Casper,  A.  M.;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  30. 

Castor,  H.  A.;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  30;  w.  at  Harper's 
Ferry,  July  6,  1864. 

Castor,  J.  F.;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  24. 

Cauble,  J.  M.;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  41;  d-  o^  ^v.  re- 
ceived at  Chancellorsville. 

Clouts,  William  L. ;  en.  July  4,  1862 ;  a.  30 ;  d.  of  w. 

Colley,  J.  M. ;  en.  July  4,  1862 ;  a.  25. 

Correll,  Samuel ;  en.  September  15,  1863 ;  a.  18;  d.  of  d. 
November  16,  1863. 

Criswell,  J.  D. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  28;  d.  of  d. 

Criswell,  W.  C. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  18. 

Earnhardt,  A.  S. ;  en.  July  4,  1862 ;  a.  24;  w.  at  Gettys- 
burg. 

Earnhardt,  Benjamin;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  34;  missing 
at  Chancellorsville. 

Earnhardt,  Edward;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  33. 

Eddleman,  J.  M. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  24;  w.  at  Chan- 
cellorsville. 

Eddleman,  W.  C. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  19. 

Eddleman,  W.  H.  C. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  19;  d.  of  w. 
received  at  Chancellorsville,  January  28,  1863. 

Eller,  John;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  28. 

Eller,  John  M. ;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  24. 

Eller,  Joseph;  en.  July  4,  1862;  a.  19;  d.  of  d.  January 
28,  1863. 

Fesperman,  S.  R. ;  en.